January 15, 2026
In Fall 2025, the Science Y’all! Editorial team sponsored free headshots at the GSEC general meeting. We wanted to share with you more about some of the students we saw there. We touch on not only their incredible work but their interests outside of the Jackson School in a series entitled “Research & Recreation.” This is the first in that series.
Discipline tags: sediment transport, beach dynamics, microplastics
Sitting down with Dan, it quickly became apparent how passionate she is about microplastics research. She is a Masters student working with Cornel Olariu researching the movement and accumulation of microplastics in the Matagorda Peninsula off the Texas coast. “I found my way to microplastics research after answering an advertisement in undergrad. I began with a project on plastic in Austin’s waterways.”
Having been here since undergrad myself, I was curious to hear Dan’s take on the undergrad-to-grad transition within Jackson School. “It’s definitely weird—you have a heightened responsibility and have to treat it more like a 9-5.” I couldn’t agree with her more. Her advice to her undergraduate self? Try as many different things as possible, and answer that intriguing research ad. “It’s okay to be scared, but don’t let it stop you.”
Dan says the Jackson School Research Symposium was also a huge growth opportunity for her and she would encourage her younger self to do it every time. This past October, Dan attended the GSA conference in San Antonio, TX, and she said the Jackson School Symposium built her confidence in a familiar space before she entered a more intimidating landscape. “GSA was amazing. I got to see other research in the microplastics world. I was inspired and excited to continue my own work.”
Inspired (and slightly horrified) to hear about the ubiquity of microplastics, I asked Dan if her research has changed how she lives her day-to-day life. “Absolutely. It’s affected everything from the clothes I buy to the water filtration system my roommate and I use.” Dan explained that washing synthetic fibers is the number one source of personal microplastics input into the environment. Now, she tries to buy 100% cotton or wool whenever possible. She and her roommate are slowly transitioning to a glass tupperware-only household and they never microwave the plastic they do own. They also recently got a reverse osmosis water filtration system for their apartment. “It’s the little changes over time that can really help not only your health but the health of the environment as well.”
I asked Dan if there were any hobbies that she has found through grad school. She told me, in fact, it’s the other way around—it was a hobby that brought her to grad school in the first place. From appreciating the creativity in video game design to creating digital illustrations herself, art has always been a foundational part of Dan’s life. It was the concept sketches and outcrop maps that drew her into geology. “It started when I took the UT OnRamps Earth, Wind, & Fire course in high school,” she told me. “I was excited to find such an interdisciplinary field that blended my passion for art and the environment.”
These days, Dan is expanding her creative outlets, and is learning to play the electric guitar. “Music allows me to stretch my brain in a different way than research. Where research is trial and error, learning a new instrument forces me to return to basics and work on my memorization.” I asked Dan what the title of a movie describing her life would be. “Some rock star pun of course… ‘Rock and the Role of Microplastics’ maybe? I’ll workshop it before a production company asks.” She did have an easy answer for the theme song: Starbenders’ “Coming up Roses.”
Before we ended our chat, I asked where Dan sees herself in the future and how she hopes her work will affect the world. “I want my work to help inform policy. We need to stop microplastics at the source and clean up the existing pollution.” These measures are impossible without quantitative research like hers. She’s looking forward to a future in an environmental science position either in government or industry.
Dan left me with a parting message: “Protect what we have; look out for each other and our environment.” Wise words from a young researcher who is bound to fill the world with beautiful art and impacting science.
Check out an August 2025 feature on Dan’s work here!
