Lamia Lopez, C'2025, a junior environmental science major from Haddonfield, New Jersey, is committed to sustainability locally, nationally and globally. A Baldwin Richardson Foods Scholar, member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, and a Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Program member, she is also a LINCS Scholar, and a co-chair on the City of Atlanta’s Clean Energy Advisory Board, where she will serve until 2025.
Lopez spent her last two summers serving as an intern at national parks through the Greening Youth Foundation founded by Spelman alumna, international environmental and equity consultant Angelou Ezeilo. During her time in Jacksonville, Florida at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Lopez developed a new sustainable community outreach program for the park called "plarn."
Plarn repurposes plastic grocery bags and turns them into plastic bag yarn that can create a multitude of projects, like creating lightweight, waterproof sleeping mats for unhoused individuals. She continued her plarn research at Gulf Islands National Seashore in Pensacola, Florida, where she also patrolled sea turtles, led mindfulness and art hikes, and composed social media posts on behalf of the park. She is zealous about continuing her environmental efforts within the Atlanta University Center as a Sustainable Spelman Intern and through her position as the Bookkeeper for Speltrek, Spelman’s hiking club.
Lamia is interested in sustainability consulting, which would afford her an opportunity to work with different companies and become a part of a close-knit team to ultimately lessen the company’s carbon footprint and create more sustainable production.
“LINCS Scholars are two-year cohorts of women scientists at Spelman College, who aspire to become leaders in STEM. These students contribute dynamic science and diverse perspective to a growing field. Typically, most of our LINCS Scholars reside in Laura Spelman Residence Hall, a social justice dorm on Spelman’s campus."