Katherine Johnson
Karen Capellan
University of Kentucky Office of Sustainability Communications Intern
Senior; Environmental and Sustainability Studies and Economics
“Hello! I am excited about showing UK what sustainability can be! I hope to increase awareness and engagement with UK’s sustainability efforts through social media.”
Fun Fact: I can play the violin!
Kayla Payne
Built Environment Intern
Junior; Landscape Architecture
“I am excited to analyze and research how the Built Environment shakes hands with sustainability throughout our campus and beyond. Working along the Markey Cancer Center’s Nature Rx installation has and will continue to be a highlight of the work I’ll be doing.”
Fun Fact: I have finished the entire Game of Thrones series in a week!
Elizabeth Hellmann
University of Kentucky Recycling Intern
Junior; Environmental Studies and Sustainability
“I am excited to work alongside my fellow mentors! I will be assisting UK Recycling in their efforts to make campus zero-waste. My goal for this year is to introduce an initiative on campus aimed at reducing food waste!”
Fun Fact: I have been to 12 national parks!
Katherine Johnson
University of Kentucky Office of Sustainability Communications Intern
Junior; Digital and Mass Media Communications
“I am very excited to be heading our campus outreach on sustainability! I am the WholeSum Blog manager for the 2023-2024 school year and very interested in showcasing the efforts our sustainability team has taken and is actively participating in throughout campus!”
Fun Fact: So far, I have read 87 books this year!
Clare Rose
Urban Forestry Initiative Intern
Senior; Natural Resources and Environmental Science
“I am so excited to work with the Urban Forestry Initiative, both in helping with Tree Week this October and to help them with their outreach programming! The Urban Forestry Initiative helps to protect and spread awareness about urban tree canopies. I am so excited to help promote this effort through my internship this year!”
Fun Fact: I have a twin!
Jennifer Bukowski
Utilities and Energy Management Intern
Sophomore; Chemical Engineering
“This upcoming year I am excited to help with kicking off UK’s new lab sustainability initiative UKULELE (UK User Led Environmental Lab Excellence). This program will be composed of a variety of stakeholders who will work towards implementing more sustainable lab practices at UK. I am excited to help bring this initiative from a written charter to an actual working group by gathering interest and developing media for the program.”
Fun Fact: My favorite tree on campus is behind the Gatton Business College and is growing out of the ground at a diagonal.
Jennifer Sloan
Procurement and Purchasing Division Intern
Junior; Natural Resources and Environmental Science
“This upcoming year I am excited to work with procurement to learn and help make the University of Kentucky more sustainable and less wasteful. In procurement, the effort is to make the most sustainable purchases for the university while also considering policy and BIPOC vendors. The goal for this year is to push departments away from purchasing cheap furniture and gear them toward purchasing furniture from our selected vendors. Another goal is to make departments aware of using Surplus and look into using the university’s recycled furniture.”
Fun Fact: I am a big Cincinnati sports fan!
Anamei Walli
Healthcare Sustainability Intern
Sophomore; Public Policy and Political Science
“I am excited to learn more about sustainability healthcare initiatives, specifically what the University of Kentucky is doing to drive and accomplish these efforts. I am also looking forward to getting to know the other interns and understanding how my internship fits into all the other roles within SIP. I have been working on learning what sustainable efforts UK Healthcare already has in place through research and hands on experience throughout Chandler Hospital to gain background knowledge. My bigger goals for my internship is to expand the Meals on Wings initiative as well as implement a new recyclable medical device with Stryker.”
Fun Fact: I used to have a pet hedgehog!
Gail Wallace
Kentucky Climate Consortium Intern
Sophomore; Landscape Architecture
“I am most excited to help plan our symposium in the spring! I am also very excited to learn from all of the different members of the KYCC, given we have such a diverse group of individuals across disciplines.”
Fun Fact: I picked up ballet as an adult, and hope to be approved to go en pointe by this time next year!
