Kehinde Moyosola Ositimehin followed her heart to OHIO, fisheries and water quality

Kehinde Moyosola Ositimehin follows her pursuits, even after they take her to locations she doesn’t count on.

As a baby, Ositimehin wished to review drugs, however over time, she developed a ardour for working in outside environments.

 “I wished to depart the division at first, initially, however I noticed that I fell in love with the sphere,” Ositimehin mentioned. “Over time, I ended up loving fisheries. I ended up loving water high quality and loving every little thing that offers with water.”  

Skilled as an ichthyologist throughout her undergraduate years, she brings her expertise and abilities to the Voinovich College of Management and Public Service and the Division of Environmental Research the place she at the moment research the interplay between hydrology and sediment dynamics.

Ositimehin has additionally labored for 3 years with Aller aqua Nigeria Restricted within the aquaculture trade in Nigeria. Based mostly on her expertise within the discipline, she co-founded a three way partnership, Twinzy Farms and Meals, alongside her twin sister, Taiwo Ositimehin.

On the Voinovich College, Ositimehin spends her time finding out the hydrology and sediment within the Bloody Run Swamp at Lancaster, Ohio, and he or she engages in analysis assistant duties out of state, together with Pennsylvania. Each two weeks, she and the teammates on the Kruse Lab trek out to wetlands and spend a number of hours working to gather samples which they take again to the lab. 

It’s laborious work. 

Ositimehin needed to get used to the bitter chilly winters and humid summers far-off from her residence in Nigeria. Natalie Kruse Daniels, Ositimehin’s advisor, recollects one of many first main challenges Kehinde confronted when it comes to climate. In the course of the winter, the fieldwork group traveled to Pennsylvania. 

“To her credit score, she powered by means of and found out the best way to preserve heat and to handle that winter,” Daniels mentioned. “A few of that’s actually not for the faint hearted. It may be chilly and moist. It’s very bodily.”

Ositimehin mentioned that this previous summer time, she was virtually sick from the warmth. Regardless of that, she’s persevered.

Ositimehin’s dedication to her analysis has paid off. Within the pupil presentation competitors, she was awarded second place on the graduate pupil poster presentation on the thirty ninth annual convention of the American Society of Reclamation Sciences (ASRS). She was additionally a recipient of the journey award grant from the ASRS. At Ohio College, she is a beneficiary of the Journey Award Grant (Spring 2022) and Authentic Work Grant (Fall 2022) to help her analysis. Just lately, she was awarded the American Geophysical Union Austin Endowment for Scholar Journey to facilitate her presentation on the 2022 AGU Fall Assembly which will probably be held Dec. 12-16, in Chicago, Illinois.

Speaking about her feat on the ASRS convention, Ositimehin mentioned, “It means rather a lot to me as a result of it exhibits a recognition of the trouble I’ve put into this, and it additionally means rather a lot to the division that I got here again with a prize”.

Daniels seen that the ASRS award gave Ositimehin a confidence enhance. 

“That little little bit of validation like that … little enhance to recover from imposter syndrome,” Daniels mentioned. 

The work Ositimehin’s doing gives knowledge about how agricultural land use is affecting the water. 

Daniels defined that a lot of Ohio and the Midwest was swamp and wetlands that had been drained for agricultural functions. The soil could be very wealthy due to it, however the space then loses the advantages of a wetland. 

“Wetlands are this actually nice pure sponge,” Daniels mentioned. 

When there are intense rainfalls, water collects within the wetland areas and carries sediments and vitamins. Wetlands maintain these sediments earlier than they’re flushed into different waterways. 

Ositimehin’s knowledge will probably be utilized in monitoring options to the erosion, sediment, and nutrient enrichment brought on by agricultural runoff and discount of wetlands. 

Moreover her analysis, Ositimehin is concerned with the African group on campus. She mentioned it’s certainly one of her favourite social components about OHIO. “They make me really feel at residence,” Ositimehin mentioned. 

She serves as a Peer Advisor with the Worldwide Scholar and Scholar Companies. She can also be a member of Athenian Toastmaster’s membership and her favourite place to chill out on campus is Emeriti Park.

Ositimehin is holding an open thoughts about what she’ll do when she graduates in Might. 

“I’ve at all times been optimistic,” Ositimehin mentioned. “I’m exploring each alternative I see to advance both in academia or the environmental trade.”