The Intern Leadership Edition: Adventures in Conservation

by Kayla Machen - June 9, 2025

From rice fields to rotational grazing, Gwen Keith-Powell is diving into conservation and making every muddy moment count!

Adventures in Conservation: Gwen Keith-Powell Gets Her Boots Dirty (and Loves It!)

The first few weeks of Gwen Keith-Powell’s summer internship with the Experiential Scholars Program (ESP) have been nothing short of a whirlwind—in the best way possible. From sloshing through drainage ditches to wiring weather sensors, Gwen has jumped feet-first (literally!) into the world of soil and water conservation, and she’s thriving.

After orientation, Keith-Powell hit the ground running with her mentor, Lee Riley, and lab technician, Brett Cooper. Her first day on the job included setting up a brand-new weather station and touring one of the program’s farm sites near Dumas. It was there that she got her first hands-on experience with edge-of-field water quality samplers and learned how to wire sensors for monitoring precipitation, wind, and temperature.

“It was such an eventful first day,” she said. “I knew this internship was going to be like nothing I had ever done before—and I was right!”

Since then, her days have been filled with fieldwork, lab work, and plenty of new experiences. Keith-Powell has traveled to places she’d never seen before—even as a lifelong Arkansan. In Stuttgart, she found herself surrounded by endless rice fields and graceful egrets while learning how to collect and analyze runoff samples. In Cherry Valley, she rolled up her sleeves and helped troubleshoot a water monitoring station that had blown apart. And in Light, outside of Jonesboro, she waded into drainage ditches to process dissolved gas samples (with a tasty pit stop at the local Bulldog Restaurant, of course!). 

But it hasn’t been all muddy boots and road trips. Keith-Powell has also spent time in the lab, helping to deep clean and learned the nuts and bolts of the equipment that makes the research possible.

“It may not sound glamorous but cleaning and maintaining the lab is so important for keeping everything running smoothly. From sanitizing bottles to reactivating desiccant, I’ve learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes work that supports our field studies," she said.

One of the most exciting parts of her internship has been developing her own independent project. While her main focus is soil and water conservation, Keith-Powell has teamed up with the animal science department to explore rotational grazing patterns. Her project will allow her to work with live cattle and dive into new methods of soil and forage sampling—blending her conservation interests with animal agriculture. 

“I’m really excited to meet more people in the U of A Department of Agriculture as my project develops,” she said. “Getting to work on something I’m passionate about and actually seeing the impact of our work on farmers and the environment—it’s an incredible feeling.” 

As she continues her internship journey, she is embracing every challenge, every mud-splashed field, and every lab chore with curiosity and a can-do attitude. Her passion for conservation and her eagerness to learn are shining through in everything she does. And if the first few weeks are any indication, there’s a lot more adventure ahead. 

Missed last week's intern highlight? Read all about it here

Learn more about the Experiential Scholars Program