Growing up in Minnesota (“The Land of 10,000 Lakes”), I was exposed to freshwater ecosystems on a regular basis. Spending time on or near water quickly became the foundation for many of my outdoor hobbies, which led to my passion for aquatic biology that continues to this day. In 2023, I earned my BSc. in Fisheries and Wildlife Management from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. Marquette is a beautiful town situated along the south shore of Lake Superior; one of the most interesting freshwater systems in the world. During my time there, I studied identification methods for adfluvial brook trout using stable isotope analysis. During the project, I became fascinated with large-scale phenomena such as nutrient cycling and food web dynamics that determine the overall functionality of aquatic ecosystems. As a result, I decided to enroll as a graduate student at MUN studying the base of the aquatic food web: algae. Specifically, I will be investigating the diatom community makeup in Newfoundland’s peatlands, and researching what abiotic factors contribute to the presence or absence of indicator diatom species in community samples. As one of my great passions within ecology is anthropogenically mediated environmental changes, I would like to compare undisturbed peatland diatom communities to those affected by urbanization and frequent human-induced disturbance. My goal for this project is to shed some light on the significance of human impact on peatlands in Newfoundland, and to better understand how similar disturbances will begin to affect aquatic ecosystems on a more regular basis as the global population continues to rise.