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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}DSCN7726-300pxl.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 150px; float: right;" /></p>
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	Au Sable alum Heather Lumpkin found her dream job. Lumpkin works in a cutting-edge field in environmental education called citizen science. Citizen science programs combine environmental learning with civic engagement. A growing area of environmental education, citizen science engages participants not as passive observers, nor simply as hands-on learners, but as service-learners. For example, Au Sable recently began a citizen science&nbsp;<a href="http://ausable.org/k12programs/stream_monitoring_program/">stream monitoring program</a>&nbsp;in which participants collect stream invertebrates to indicate the water quality at various sampling sites. This data can then be used by decision-makers to identify priority areas for watershed management projects.</p>
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	Lumpkin&#39;s position combines her skills in environmental research and environmental education, which she honed through two Master&#39;s degrees in those subjects at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin-Steven&#39;s Point, respectively. Lumpkin is a graduate of Bethel College and received a Naturalist certificate from Au Sable. We caught up with Heather to learn more:</p>
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	<strong>What do you do in your current position?</strong></p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}DSCN4114-300pxl.jpg" style="width: 175px; height: 218px; float: right;" />I coordinate the citizen-based research and monitoring program at the North Lakeland Discovery Center, a small non-profit nature center in beautiful Northern Wisconsin. My job is to find meaningful research and monitoring projects that will have a positive impact on volunteers, science, and the way that we steward the land. &nbsp;Sometimes I am out in the field with volunteers doing wolf howling surveys, shoreline bird surveys, bat monitoring, salamander monitoring, etc., and sometimes I am coordinating these projects behind-the-scenes, managing data or writing grants and reports. &nbsp;I really enjoy this blend of activities and am excited to use my training in ecology research and environmental education to build an effective research and monitoring program and help the community form a deeper connection with and become better stewards of God&rsquo;s Creation. &nbsp;</p>
