Olivia Marrero is a fourth year student at The Ohio State University. She grew up in Massillon, Ohio where she graduated from Jackson High School in 2021. She’s majoring in Environmental Molecular Science with minors in Spanish and Geochemistry and a certificate in Hydrogeology. She has always been passionate about environmental sustainability and equity. During her junior year of high school, she fell in love with chemistry. Chemistry explains so much about the world, and she truly believes that it can play a large role in saving it. 

When she wasn’t studying for chem, Olivia spent her time as president of both the marching band and the Spanish Honors Society (La Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica). Those leadership roles taught her a lot about collaborating with others, organizing large scale events, consolidating ideas, and using said ideas to gain profits for the organizations. The skills she gained from those experiences helped her create a multidimensional project with Habitat for Humanity – East Central Ohio in which she helped them build a relationship with the local Latinx community. During high school, Olivia was both a finalist in the The American Chemical Society’s National Chemistry Olympiad Competition and a Canton Repository Stark State Teen of the Month in November 2020. She even obtained The Seal of Biliteracy in May of 2020. 

Ohio State itself has so many paths within The School of Environment and Natural Resources, but she’s most interested in molecular science. What habitats she’ll work in or which natural resource(s) she’ll work with, she’s not sure, but she’s very fond of soil and wetlands. In the future, she hopes to be able to spend the day outside in her chosen biome taking samples or collecting data and then returning to the lab to examine and interpret them. Because of being ethnically Puerto Rican, she hopes to be able to live in an area where she can both use her Spanish and connect with Latin culture.

Olivia has had the most amazing academic and social experiences at OSU. In October of 2021, Olivia worked with three other Stamps Eminence students to create a multidimensional app that the community can use to increase the amount of climate resilient, native, and pollinator plants growing in the area. For their excellent work, the team was awarded first place at The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center’s Inaugural Climathon Competition.

Her drive for sustainability and justice has taken her from Australia to study rainforest conservation to Quito, Ecuador to push for the protection of soils and indigenous land through consultancy. She’s working with Dr. Katrina Cornish to study rubber dandelion growth on, and phytoremediation of, heavy metal contaminated soils. Her research was awarded first place in the 2023 CFAES Poster Competition for Environmental and Plant Sciences.

She was chosen as a nominee for the Udall Scholarship, a scholarship for leadership, public service, and commitment to the environment, and as an OSU Delegate for the 2023 Conference of the Parties (COP) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates where she fought for a just transition towards sustainability. At the completion of the conference, Olivia was even asked to speak at a student seminar and go on NPR (All Sides with Anna Staver) to share about her COP experience, reforestation, and a just transition from fossil fuels. 

Olivia has worked with OSU’s Zero Waste Team during Football Saturdays to divert up to 94% of waste from landfills. She is currently working at Battelle on critical mineral recovery and quantifying microplastics in wet deposition. Olivia has recently accepted a position in the Environmental History Department where she aims to help increase climate change awareness and literacy through a variety of media types.

As she continues to grow and explore, Olivia is excited to be able to excel academically and socially during her last year at OSU. Whether she’s continuing her research on soil remediation, engaging with Millenium Fellows, celebrating with the Puerto Rican Student Association, or working out with CHAARG, she knows that she will continue to gain valuable experiences that’ll set her up for success in her future career(s).