{"id":2554,"date":"2026-01-15T10:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2026-01-15T12:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:46:41","slug":"in-conversation-with-danielle-zaleski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/in-conversation-with-danielle-zaleski\/","title":{"rendered":"In Conversation with Danielle Zaleski"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discipline tags: sediment transport, beach dynamics, microplastics<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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. \u201cI found my way to microplastics research after answering an advertisement in undergrad. I began with a project on plastic in Austin\u2019s waterways.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Having been here since undergrad myself, I was curious to hear Dan\u2019s take on the undergrad-to-grad transition within Jackson School. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely weird\u2014you have a heightened responsibility and have to treat it more like a 9-5.\u201d I couldn\u2019t agree with her more. Her advice to her undergraduate self? Try as many different things as possible, and answer that intriguing research ad. \u201cIt\u2019s okay to be scared, but don\u2019t let it stop you.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 atten<\/span>ded the GSA conference in San Antonio, TX, and she said the Jackson School Symposium built her confidence i<\/span>n a familiar space before she entered a more intimidating landscape. \u201cGSA was amazing. I got to see other research in the microplastics world. I was inspired and excited to continue my own work.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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. \u201cAbsolutely. It\u2019s affected everything from the clothes I buy to the water filtration system my roommate and I use.\u201d 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. \u201cIt\u2019s the little changes over time that can really help not only your health but the health of the environment as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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I asked Dan if there were any hobbies that she has found through grad school. She told me, in fact, it\u2019s the other way around\u2014it 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\u2019s life. It was the concept sketches and outcrop maps that drew her into geology. \u201cIt started when I took the UT OnRamps Earth, Wind, & Fire course in high school,\u201d she told me. \u201cI was excited to find such an interdisciplinary field that blended my passion for art and the environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These days, Dan is expanding her creative outlets, and is learning to play the electric guitar. \u201cMusic 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.\u201d I asked Dan what the title of a movie describing her life would be. \u201cSome rock star pun of course\u2026 ‘Rock and the Role of Microplastics’ maybe? I\u2019ll workshop it before a production company asks.\u201d She did have an easy answer for the theme song: Starbenders\u2019 \u201cComing up Roses.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we ended our chat, I asked where Dan sees herself in the future and how she hopes her work will affect the world. \u201cI want my work to help inform policy. We need to stop microplastics at the source and clean up the existing pollution.\u201d These measures are impossible without quantitative research like hers. She\u2019s looking forward to a future in an environmental science position either in government or industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan left me with a parting message: \u201cProtect what we have; look out for each other and our environment<\/strong>.\u201d Wise words from a young researcher who is bound to fill the world with beautiful art and impacting science.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out an August 2025 feature on Dan\u2019s work <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u201cI found my way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":431,"featured_media":2563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[170,169,168,166,167,165],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art","tag-coastal","tag-hobbies","tag-microplastics","tag-recreation","tag-sediment-transport"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/431"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2554"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2568,"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions\/2568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jsg.utexas.edu\/science-yall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}