Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Kennedy Primus ’24
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
Certificate: Environmental Studies
FOOD SYSTEMS
AND HEALTH
PROJECT TITLE
Farm Project Field
Assistant
ORGANIZATION(S)
Rubenstein Lab,
Department of Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology,
Princeton University
LOCATION(S)
Princeton, New Jersey
MENTOR(S)
Daniel Rubenstein,
Class of 1877 Professor
of Zoology, Emeritus,
Professor of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology,
Emeritus; Gina Talt,
Project Manager, Food
Systems, Office of
Sustainability
Our project aimed to understand the mutualisms
present in the Native American agricultural
tradition of the “three sisters,” corn, beans and
squash. My team and I maintained our study
site and monitored plant growth using Arable
sensors. We used sensors to track changes in
vegetation cover, temperature, precipitation
and other variables. We also measured soil
moisture and identified populations of insects.
I learned how to analyze data and apply it to
crop development. We found that factors such as
weed pressure inflated the estimated vegetation
cover. I was fascinated by the concept of growing
degree days, which links temperature to plant
growth. By using Arable software, I learned
how corn plants develop new leaves after
experiencing daily temperatures within a certain
range over time. In the future, I hope to engage
with sustainability and food systems within the
environmental policy field. After participating in
this internship program, I would like to research
how using agricultural methods like the three
sisters could impact food systems across different
communities.
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