Employee Spotlight: Jakob Stankoski

Meet ORAU employee Jakob Stankoski! Jakob is an ORAU contractor working under the National Student Services Contract (NSSC) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As a Research Technician at EPA in Narragansett, RI, Jakob supports EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and the Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling (CEMM) along with the Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division (ACESD). Jakob’s work with CEMM and ACESD consists of field and laboratory assignments, data management, data analysis, report generation, and literature reviews.

Jakob recently attended the 2024 Northeast Aquatics Biologist Conference in Fairlee, Vermont. The harmful algal bloom (HAB) Conference, coordinated by New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) in partnership with member states and EPA, preserves the spirit and tradition of providing a forum for the professional sharing of knowledge and collaboration among the aquatic and environmental biologist community in the Northeast. The HAB conference included workshops, guest speakers, exhibitors, and poster sessions. Jakob was honored to present a poster based on ACESD's current research. His poster investigated the comparison of multiple handheld fluorometers in a group of Rhode Island freshwater ponds. Furthermore, he attended presentations on water quality and specifically harmful algal bloom monitoring and assessment. When asked what he enjoyed the most about the conference, Jakob said, “I enjoyed the poster presentation portion because it allowed me to meet people attending the conference and learn about their work. My work here at EPA ACESD has been focused on HAB monitoring and assessment so it was interesting to listen to other strategies for monitoring HABs.”

In addition to highlighting his conference attendance and poster presentation, we asked Jakob about joining the EPA ACSED team and his work. When asked what his favorite part of working at EPA has been so far, Jakob said, “My favorite part of joining the EPA team has been being able to take part in fieldwork with my research team.”

Background

Jakob earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in May 2021.