ELVIA NIEBLA
As a child, I was always interested in outdoor life. I was the youngest of four
brothers and sisters growing up in Nogales, Arizona. I was proud to attend my
elementary school because my step-grandfather was the general contractor who
helped build it. Science became my favorite subject. In junior high and high
school, I had to make an important decision that would affect the rest of my
life. I was advised not to continue taking science and mathematics classes
because knowing mathematics and science wouldn’t be necessary to be a secretary
or Spanish teacher-the two traditional careers of a Hispanic female in the 1960’s.
I wanted to go to college and become a scientist! I enjoyed my science courses,
and I was doing well in them. When I talked with my parents, they urged me to
continue taking science and mathematics. They told me that whatever I decided to
do, they would support my choice. I continued taking mathematics and science
classes. One of my high school teachers even took time after school to teach me
calculus. I attended junior college before I went to the University of Arizona.
I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology/ chemistry, a master’s degree
in education, and a Ph.D. in soil chemistry. As a soil scientist, I worked for
the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I studied the effects of chemicals
on the ground. In particular, I worked with sludge. Sludge may look and feel
like slimy mud, but it smells awful. Sludge is what is left over after garbage
decomposes. Believe it or not, sludge contains nutrients that the ground needs
to help make plants grow. Sludge is sometimes spread on the land where farmers
plant their crops. One project that I worked on dealt with the amount of poisons
such as lead, in industrial sludge. Using mathematics, I described several
pathways by which humans could get poisoned by sludge. For example, if there is
even a small amount of arsenic in sludge that is spread on the ground, the
arsenic would be passed on to the grass. The arsenic could pass into cows when
they eat the grass. Then, if those cows were slaughtered and made into hamburger,
a human eating the meat would get arsenic poisoning. The US EPA put me in charge
of writing the regulations for the use of sludge on agricultural land, to help
prevent the poisons in sludge from reaching humans. When I became the national
coordinator for the Global Change Research Program (GCRP), I continued working
with environmental issues. I help decide what needs to be done so that we can
study how the changes of the earth affect trees, animals, forests, acid rain,
and ozone. One year, I decided how to distribute $25,000,000 to scientists and
the science projects they proposed. When the results of the environmental
research are given to me, I use them to help advise politicians making the rules
for the usage of land. I also represent the United States at international
environmental conferences.
As a child, I was always interested in outdoor life. I was the youngest of four
brothers and sisters growing up in Nogales, Arizona. I was proud to attend my
elementary school because my step-grandfather was the general contractor who
helped build it. Science became my favorite subject. In junior high and high
school, I had to make an important decision that would affect the rest of my
life. I was advised not to continue taking science and mathematics classes
because knowing mathematics and science wouldn’t be necessary to be a secretary
or Spanish teacher-the two traditional careers of a Hispanic female in the 1960’s.
I wanted to go to college and become a scientist! I enjoyed my science courses,
and I was doing well in them. When I talked with my parents, they urged me to
continue taking science and mathematics. They told me that whatever I decided to
do, they would support my choice. I continued taking mathematics and science
classes. One of my high school teachers even took time after school to teach me
calculus. I attended junior college before I went to the University of Arizona.
I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology/ chemistry, a master’s degree
in education, and a Ph.D. in soil chemistry. As a soil scientist, I worked for
the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I studied the effects of chemicals
on the ground. In particular, I worked with sludge. Sludge may look and feel
like slimy mud, but it smells awful. Sludge is what is left over after garbage
decomposes. Believe it or not, sludge contains nutrients that the ground needs
to help make plants grow. Sludge is sometimes spread on the land where farmers
plant their crops. One project that I worked on dealt with the amount of poisons
such as lead, in industrial sludge. Using mathematics, I described several
pathways by which humans could get poisoned by sludge. For example, if there is
even a small amount of arsenic in sludge that is spread on the ground, the
arsenic would be passed on to the grass. The arsenic could pass into cows when
they eat the grass. Then, if those cows were slaughtered and made into hamburger,
a human eating the meat would get arsenic poisoning. The US EPA put me in charge
of writing the regulations for the use of sludge on agricultural land, to help
prevent the poisons in sludge from reaching humans. When I became the national
coordinator for the Global Change Research Program (GCRP), I continued working
with environmental issues. I help decide what needs to be done so that we can
study how the changes of the earth affect trees, animals, forests, acid rain,
and ozone. One year, I decided how to distribute $25,000,000 to scientists and
the science projects they proposed. When the results of the environmental
research are given to me, I use them to help advise politicians making the rules
for the usage of land. I also represent the United States at international
environmental conferences.