Audrey Blanchard

My name is Audrey Blanchard, and I am excited to apply for the MSc Student in Geology, specializing in Late Triassic Sedimentary Geochemistry - Research Affiliate Program. I am currently finishing my 4th and final year as an undergraduate student in Biology and Geology at Queen’s University. I have always had a passion for Sedimentary Geology and have always been interested in learning more about geochemistry. I am very interested in pursuing a Masters in Geology or a Master of Science at the Universitè du Québec à Montréal. 

PEARL (Palaeoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab) at Queen’s University -SWEP (Student Work Experience Position) as an Aquatic Biomonitoring Research Assistant and Fourth Year Thesis.

I was a lab and research assistant at PEARL during the summer of 2022 under the supervision of Dr. John Smol. I was trained in safety, modern field and laboratory techniques, critical thinking, and analytical skills. Some of these skills involved training in newly developed biomonitoring approaches to study long-term environmental change, training in fieldwork protocols on local lakes, water and sediment sampling techniques, and on-site environmental assessments. In the laboratory, I learned the newest microscopic, taxonomic, and numeric approaches related to biomonitoring work, that focused on algal and invertebrate indicators used in long-term environmental assessments, and I was trained in the use of relevant statistical analysis to objectively observe data for my thesis. Overall, I learned many skills while working at PEARL, such as, experimental and research design, lab and field methods, water quality assessments, microscopic approaches, data management and statistical analyses, writing and communication skills. All these skills I have used and continue to use while I finish my fourth year paleolimnological thesis on Wabamun Lake, AB by using diatoms to track the multiple stressors and contamination history of the Lake. 

Queen’s University – Kingston ON 

Currently completing my fourth and final year at Queen’s University. Majoring in Biology with Honours and minoring in Geology. Also currently working on a fourth-year thesis for the PEARL Lab at Queen’s University on the paleolimnology of Wabamun Lake, AB by using diatoms from a core collected in 2019 to track the contamination history of the lake, under the supervision of Dr. John Smol.