A. Punziano, a 20-year-old transfer student from South Florida, is passionate about all thing’s nature. I am strongly invested in sustainability and conservation tactics as well as natural resource management. I’m an Environmental and Sustainability Scientist with a focus on Forest Ecology.

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 I'm the daughter of a biologist who always had me in the outdoors of my childhood home in South Georgia, playing with roly-polies and daddy long legs. I'd dig up grubs from under my playset and make my chickens go down the slide with me. I've always loved Earth and the amazing outdoors that it provides. Moving to South Florida in 5th grade opened my eyes to the harmful effects pollution and human activity have on the coastal environment. I volunteered with the humane society, fostered kittens, and went to conservation summer camps. My high school had a magnet program for Environmental Science and Everglades Restoration. I was in a leadership position in the school club, Everglades Restoration Ambassadors. I was even voted “Mrs. KOE” (Kissimmee, Okeechobee, and Everglades watershed) my senior year. From an early age, I heard my calling from Mother Nature, but I didn’t just want to study environmental science. CSU is one of few schools that offer an Ecosystem Science and Sustainability major, when I saw that I knew this was the place for me. My minor in Forestry is a new interest I've gained since moving out to Colorado and it has quickly become a very important topic in my educational and career goals.

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I am currently a second-year student majoring in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and minoring in Forestry. I've had exposure to data and research collection with outdoor educational research in the NR220 Mountain Campus course. I've taken quite a variety of courses, but my favorites are forest and ecosystem ecology, watershed sustainability, philosophy, systems theory for sustainability, and natural resources ecology and management.

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After undergraduate graduation, I plan on attending grad school to get my masters in some natural resources field, but I'm not sure exactly what yet. After that, I'd like to work for the National Parks Service or the Forest Service and be a law enforcement ranger or a forester. I hope with my career I will be able to speak for the environment and protect it. I love that my major exposes me to topics I would’ve never even thought existed, I feel like ESS is a very unique major, and the education speaks for itself.  I'm very passionate about my desire to pursue this education and career opportunity because the environment can't speak for itself, and I think I can be its voice. My passion for conserving and protecting this planet is deeply rooted in me and I hope to make an impact one day.