Hadley McIntosh Receives Anchor QEA, LLC Scholarship

January 29, 2016

Congratulations to Hadley McIntosh, a Ph.D. student at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL), for receiving an Anchor QEA, LLC scholarship.

Anchor QEA, LLC is an environmental consulting firm that works on waterfront planning, clean up, development, and restoration projects. The Anchor QEA scholarship was established to assist graduate students focusing on fisheries, environmental science, planning and land use, landscape architecture, and coastal, geotechnical, or environmental engineering with funds for school tuition and supplies. In January 2015, a total of seven students from six different universities received scholarships, including CBL’s own Hadley McIntosh.

Hadley graduated with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Chemistry from the College of St. Benedict and received her Masters of Science degree from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Through the Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (MEES) Graduate Program, she is now pursuing a Ph.D. in environmental chemistry at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory under the guidance of her advisor, Dr. Laura Lapham.

Hadley’s dissertation research is trying to find out if and how methane, a potent greenhouse gas, moves from oxygen depleted sediments at the bottom of water bodies, into the water column, and possibly into the atmosphere over the course of a year. A better understanding of methane processes will improve predictions of future greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on humans.

"With the support of the Anchor QEA scholarship, I will be able to broaden the extent of my research on methane dynamics in lakes under ice cover in the Mackenzie River Delta, Canada for a second field season in Inuvik, Canada. Regular sampling is difficult in the Mackenzie River Delta, Canada region because of its remoteness, the expense to get there, and the dangerous conditions during spring river ice-melt. With expanded support, I will be able to extend a one-year record by redeploying my sampling devices for a second year at a subset of lakes and it will allow for examination of annual variability," explained Hadley.

Hadley also hopes the support from Anchor QEA, LCC will help her to become more informed about public sector business, and help her communicate science to the public.

The students, staff, and faculty at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory congratulate Hadley McIntosh on this stellar achievement and wish the best on her studies and research.