Kirsten Goldstein's CAS Internship with the USGS, NPS, & BLM

In the summers of 2018 & 2019, CAS trainee Kirsten Goldstein interned with the USGS, NPS, and BLM under the mentorship of Sasha Reed, Matt Van Scoyoc, and Jennifer Jones. As an intern, Kirsten: 1) conducted 345 intercept surveys of visitors to the Corona and Delicate arch trails, collecting data on temperatures and risk perceptions and demographics to find predictors of hear risk perception; and 2) collected atmospheric conditions along Delicate Arch Trail and compared them to predicted and observed temperatures. 

The research team found that visitors were not scaling their risk perceptions with increases in temperature. These results will help policymakers, tourist agencies, and emergency and natural resource managers and planners create effective communication strategies for extreme heat.

Kirsten gained a skillset in intercept surveys, field collection of atmospheric and spatial data, communicating with multi-agency audiences, and writing public project briefs.