Summer Interns at work with AMP

     AMP has some additional help this summer. The Ohio Research Internship Program, (ORIP), in its second year at OARDC, places student interns into many departments on campus. Matheus De Nardo, Callie Hopkins, William Cary, and Rachel Myers are working on four main AMP projects during the ten weeks of the summer program under the guidance of Casey Hoy.
     De Nardo is managing the OARDC Mid-Week Farmer's Market project with the help of co-mentor and AMP Program Coordinator, Megan Shoenfelt. De Nardo's project involves assessing market participation and economic impact, and informing people about the importance of local food systems and the advantages of having locally based, self-reliant food economies in our state and community. Shoenfelt runs the market with the interns as they learn the ropes.
     Cary's main project deals with ecosystem acoustics, using sound to assess the living world, by analyzing both anthropogenic and natural activity within an agroecosystem. In this project Cary will work with co-mentor and graduate student Claire Paisley-Jones to install ten automated microphone platforms to record the soundscape without the disruption of a human presence. The recorded soundscape will be used to assess biodiversity and ecosystem functions within various agroecosystems.
     Myers research is focused on the use of Geographic Information Systems. The GIS software is a database that uses spatial referencing to integrate different kinds of data. Using the software, the interns work with co-mentor and Research Scientist, Krishna Vadrevu to create maps of local farms and farmer's markets to analyze their environments and demographic surroundings.
     Hopkins is heading a writing project where the interns travel to a variety of cities in the surrounding area to meet with people involved in urban agriculture and committed to strengthening local food systems. With help from co-mentor and Research Scientist, Ross MacDonald, these interviews will be used to generate stories that will be posted online at localfoodsystems.org. The goal is to influence people's perceptions about agriculture as an effective use of vacant urban space and measure the impact of the stories on the social network.
     Each intern will share one of the projects with an oral and written presentation at the end of the ten-week program. The internship program ends after the final presentation day on August 15.

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