I did my diagram project on the acidification of the Great Lakes and how that affects wildlife.

This is a topic that I’ve already researched for other classes and for the IDS. As an environmental management minor and a Great Lakes-area native, it’s very interesting to me.

I struggled to find a way to clearly illustrate such an abstract scientific concept, but in the end I feel I did so effectively.

The hardest part was the formation of a weak acid. I wasn’t sure how far into chemistry would be appropriate to go, so I went for the bare minimum. It was also a challenge to illustrate the native clams and the zebra mussels, since their only consistent difference is the color and a slight change in shape.

For the chart project, I chose to research something that has always interested me and something that I already know a great deal about. As an environmental management minor, I’ve spent a good amount of time researching data sets similar to what I used.

I definitely underestimated how complex it was to display this data set. While I think I did so in a somewhat effective way, i definitely could have done a lot better and presented the data in a way that could have been much clearer. I really enjoyed comparing the rise in sea level to well known landmarks to put the height in perspective.