McKayla Arsenault ’22 joins 51Ć·˛čNorth as GIS and communications intern
51Ć·˛čNorth: The Institute for North Atlantic Studies at the 51Ć·˛č has welcomed McKayla Arsenault (Environmental Studies, ’22) as the institute’s first student intern.
51Ć·˛čNorth connects researchers, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders from across Maine and the North Atlantic region to implement collaborative approaches to building resilient communities, healthy environments, and thriving economies. The institute’s work is grounded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Arsenault will assist the institute in its communications efforts, including the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to help tell the 51Ć·˛čNorth story.
In addition to her major, Arsenault is tackling four minors in GIS, Climate Change Studies, Political Science, and Biological Sciences. Her GIS field experience includes use of ArcGIS StoryMaps and WebApps, and she has received a MOOC cartography certification through ArcGIS parent company, ESRI.
Arsenault’s focus will be to create an ArcGIS interactive map highlighting all of 51Ć·˛čNorth’s partnerships and projects as a communications tool. The map will describe where 51Ć·˛čNorth partners are, what projects the institute is engaged in, and their impacts on local and regional sustainable development.
51Ć·˛čNorth partners with people and institutions in the U.S. and across the globe, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Russia.
“With climate change being a defining issue of this century, it is more important than ever to collaborate at a regional, national, and global scale,” Arsenault said. “Collaboration is a key component of 51Ć·˛čNorth as knowledge, ideas, and ambitions are shared between countries in the North Atlantic. I am ecstatic to work with 51Ć·˛čNorth to contribute to the efforts against climate change by telling their story of international cooperation.”
Additionally, Arsenault will support 51Ć·˛čNorth’s leadership of the University of the Arctic Thematic Network on Bioregional Planning for Resilient Rural Communities by staffing meetings of international stakeholders.
Arsenault will present her map to a joint meeting of 51Ć·˛čNorth’s Advisory Council, composed of government and business representatives from Maine, and the Affiliate Team, an interdisciplinary advisory group of 51Ć·˛čfaculty and students. 51Ć·˛čfaculty member Chris Brehme, Ph.D., who joined 51Ć·˛čthis fall and teaches GIS in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs, will mentor McKayla throughout the process.
“It is wonderful to have McKayla on the 51Ć·˛čNorth team, and she is already bringing so much creativity to the project,” said 51Ć·˛čNorth Director Holly Parker, Ph.D. “A key goal for 51Ć·˛čNorth is to increase 51Ć·˛čstudent engagement with our work supporting sustainable development here in Maine and throughout the region. We hope McKayla is the first of many awesome student interns to come.”