McKayla Arsenault ’22 joins 鶹ýNorth as GIS and communications intern
鶹ýNorth: The Institute for North Atlantic Studies at the 鶹ý has welcomed McKayla Arsenault (Environmental Studies, ’22) as the institute’s first student intern.
鶹ýNorth connects researchers, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders from across Maine and the North Atlantic region to implement collaborative approaches to building resilient communities, healthy environments, and thriving economies. The institute’s work is grounded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Arsenault will assist the institute in its communications efforts, including the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to help tell the 鶹ýNorth story.
In addition to her major, Arsenault is tackling four minors in GIS, Climate Change Studies, Political Science, and Biological Sciences. Her GIS field experience includes use of ArcGIS StoryMaps and WebApps, and she has received a MOOC cartography certification through ArcGIS parent company, ESRI.
Arsenault’s focus will be to create an ArcGIS interactive map highlighting all of 鶹ýNorth’s partnerships and projects as a communications tool. The map will describe where 鶹ýNorth partners are, what projects the institute is engaged in, and their impacts on local and regional sustainable development.
鶹ýNorth partners with people and institutions in the U.S. and across the globe, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Russia.
“With climate change being a defining issue of this century, it is more important than ever to collaborate at a regional, national, and global scale,” Arsenault said. “Collaboration is a key component of 鶹ýNorth as knowledge, ideas, and ambitions are shared between countries in the North Atlantic. I am ecstatic to work with 鶹ýNorth to contribute to the efforts against climate change by telling their story of international cooperation.”
Additionally, Arsenault will support 鶹ýNorth’s leadership of the University of the Arctic Thematic Network on Bioregional Planning for Resilient Rural Communities by staffing meetings of international stakeholders.
Arsenault will present her map to a joint meeting of 鶹ýNorth’s Advisory Council, composed of government and business representatives from Maine, and the Affiliate Team, an interdisciplinary advisory group of 鶹ýfaculty and students. 鶹ýfaculty member Chris Brehme, Ph.D., who joined 鶹ýthis fall and teaches GIS in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs, will mentor McKayla throughout the process.
“It is wonderful to have McKayla on the 鶹ýNorth team, and she is already bringing so much creativity to the project,” said 鶹ýNorth Director Holly Parker, Ph.D. “A key goal for 鶹ýNorth is to increase 鶹ýstudent engagement with our work supporting sustainable development here in Maine and throughout the region. We hope McKayla is the first of many awesome student interns to come.”