Summer 2007
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Karen White uses a global positioning system to survey an Army Reserve installation in Alabama.

Karen White is doing her duty for the U.S. Army, but not in the way many people might think.

In July 2005, White joined the U.S. Army Environmental Command's Environmental Management Participant Program as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) participant.

There, White studied natural and cultural resources on Army Reserve properties and the effect that the Reserve's mission activities had on the surrounding environment.

As a conservation technician intern, White went to the Installation Management Command-Army Reserve Office in Atlanta, Ga. Whenever the Reserve considered a property action such as buying or selling land, White helped ensure the decision was made with the environment in mind.

One case involved property on the North Carolina coastline. The military branch considered selling the property, but, White said, with endangered manatees and a threatened species of butterfly inhabiting the area, the Reserve had to make certain a sale would not negatively affect either of the species or their habitats.

A 2006 graduate of Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, White majored in biology. After her ORISE internship ended in March, White earned a position with the 81st Regional Readiness Command in Birmingham, Ala. "People told me ORISE opens doors. In my case, it not only opened the door but led me through it."

Now charged with the environmental stewardship of Army Reserve property in eight southeastern states, White says she makes many of the same contributions but with added responsibility. In addition to ensuring environmental compliance, she also works on the restoration of contaminated property, pollution prevention and preservation of cultural and natural resources.

"I wouldn't be where I am today without the ORISE program," White said.

Note: Scott Coolbaugh was an intern with Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) in 2006. Originally published in the 2006 ORAU Annual Report.

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