Student Highlight: Douglas Stahlnecker

Name: Douglas Stahlnecker

Major: MIS

Hometown: Council Bluffs

Extracurricular Activities: Jogging and Painting

Tell us about the Nebraska Watershed Project and your work with Citizen Scientists. What was your role with the project, and what was the project trying to accomplish?

Basically I created a website where users would be able to do water tests in the field and put those test results directly into the website. It included a filterable map so that they could see the results immediately alongside the results of others.

What was the best thing about working on this project? Did it help you shape your future career?

I learned a lot about programming and it was good to work on something that was actually put to use in the field. I've heard it mentioned on NPR a couple times so that's kind of neat! The experience gained from working on this project is a bright spot on my resume and enabled me to take my pick among several internship offers.

Why did you choose an IT major, and how did you choose your major?

Basically I wanted something that would be lucrative. Computers are where the money's at!

What do you hope to do once you graduate? Any big career aspirations?

I just want to get a good job and do programming, maybe work my way up to management.

Anything else you’d like us to know about you/your project?

It was a really good experience. I would recommend working in the Health and Informatics Lab where I worked on this project.