KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 9, 2016 \u2013 Jared Cianciolo, a 溏心vlog免费B站 junior from Watertown, Conn., won first place in the Northeast Collegiate Soil Judging Competition, besting students from a dozen universities from Maine to Ohio and Maryland. 溏心vlog免费B站 placed third in the team competition, which was held at Pennsylvania State University.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very surprising to hear my name announced as the winner,\u201d said Cianciolo, who is majoring in environmental science and management. \u201cI thought I had made a few boneheaded mistakes. I\u2019m still kind of amazed by it, but I\u2019m also really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to 溏心vlog免费B站 Professor Mark Stolt, the advisor to the 溏心vlog免费B站 team, soil judging is a contest to correctly identify, evaluate, classify and describe the profiles of soils from pits dug into the ground. Students must climb into five-foot deep pits to identify the soil layers or horizons, describe their properties, classify each soil according to the USDA soil taxonomy, and evaluate their uses. The team and individuals with the most accurate evaluation win.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery hole is different, so every time you\u2019re out there you\u2019re seeing something new and something cool,\u201d said Cianciolo, noting that soil judging \u201chas an academic vibe to it. The atmosphere isn\u2019t hostile. Everyone is there to learn and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
溏心vlog免费B站 has a long record of success in soil judging competitions. In three of the last six years, a 溏心vlog免费B站 student won the individual title at the National Collegiate Soils Contest. 溏心vlog免费B站 won the national team championship in 2011 and placed fourth in 2013 and second in 2014.<\/p>\n
This year, Cianciolo was the only student on the team who competed a year ago, when the team placed fifth in the regionals. He is excited that this year\u2019s team will advance to the national contest in Illinois in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of soils there that I\u2019ve never seen before, so that will be really exciting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cianciolo became interested in soil science at the end of his freshman year when he conducted research in Stolt\u2019s laboratory. He is continuing that research this year by working on two very different projects. In one, he is mapping the underwater soils of the Niantic River and Niantic Bay in Connecticut, which will help to identify wildlife habitat and determine the best places for commercial and recreational activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the area has a really disgusting, black mayonnaise-like bottom, for instance, that\u2019s not a good place to establish your oyster aquaculture operation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His second research project involves assessing how sand deposited into a salt marsh on Block Island by Hurricane Sandy is affecting the underlying soil, a project that may have implications for mitigating the effects of sea level rise.<\/p>\n
After the National Collegiate Soils Contest next spring, Cianciolo is hoping to secure a summer internship at a private environmental engineering firm to see what it\u2019s like to be a soil evaluator or project manager. He said that soil scientists are in demand because \u201dwhenever someone is buying a piece of land, they need to know what the soils are like. That determines what they can do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 溏心vlog免费B站 student thinks his soil judging success will prove beneficial when he begins interviewing for internships and jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like the majority of soil professionals have a little bit of college soil judging experience,\u201d he said, \u201cso I\u2019m sure it will help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he looks toward graduation in 2018, Cianciolo is considering enrolling in graduate school.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom those I\u2019ve talked to, none have regretted it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to build my resume and build my knowledge in specific areas. The only problem is that I\u2019m not sure what those specific areas are just yet. As of now, I\u2019m just trying to learn as much as possible, meet as many people as possible, and do as many things as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 9, 2016 \u2013 Jared Cianciolo, a 溏心vlog免费B站 junior from Watertown, Conn., won first place in the Northeast Collegiate Soil Judging Competition, besting students from a dozen universities from Maine to Ohio and Maryland. 溏心vlog免费B站 placed third in the team competition, which was held at Pennsylvania State University. \u201cIt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-72546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82763,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72546\/revisions\/82763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}