Dr. Autumn Elniski

My name is Autumn Elniski and I grew up in the city of Buffalo, NY. I developed a passion for science as a child and it has blossomed into a love of learning and teaching science. I studied Aquatic Ecology and Forestry in high school and journeyed into engineering in college. Focusing on renewable resources, I studied and worked with pulp and paper, industrial wastewater treatment, and biomaterials through my experience at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Additionally, I followed my interests in improving science literacy and education by studying Teaching and Curriculum and Instructional Design at Syracuse University.

My greatest goal is to enhance and implement new methods of teaching collegiate-level learners about science and engineering. Advancing science literacy is an imperative aspect of improving our society. I firmly believe that anyone and every can learn science, and that all should have equal access to resources to understand science. Outside of the collegiate level, I aim to work with the general population and local communities to communicate scientific concepts in a common vernacular to build understanding and specific registers for scientific discourse. 

​

My teaching and research interests incorporate renewable resources and wastewater treatment. I am excited to teach generations new and old about pulp and paper engineering. Paper is a product that is versatile and present in our everyday lives. The movement towards more sustainable materials in the social and commercial marketplace advocates for the continued research and expansion of paper applications to offset non-renewable products. However, with the digital and environmental narrative shifts in popular culture, paper has become a misunderstood material. I strive to help address misconceptions about paper in the general public and educate engineers to work in the pulp and paper fields. 

​

Renewable resources are also an important facet to consider in the journey towards more sustainable practices. My area of focus is lignocellulosic materials, or trees, grasses, and agricultural residues. I am interested in learning about how these fiber sources can be utilized to make new physical products and how these fiber matrices can be processed to create value-added byproduct streams that can offset our reliance on fossil fuel-based materials. Additionally, I wish to teach others about the importance of these resources and the potential lignocellulosics have in new products and materials. 

​

Wastewater treatment is another passion of mine. I worked directly with industrial wastewater treatment while employed in the industry and it is a subject I love to discuss. Many of the methods utilized to process lignocellulosic materials into new products and compounds require a large amount of water, especially in paper manufacture. To be good stewards of the land, we need to ensure water is cleaned before returning it to the environment. Industrial wastewater treatment is an increasingly important topic in manufacturing facilities. I hope to help students entering the industry better understand the application of wastewater treatment technologies to maintain the health of our water systems and local environments. 

​

I am also passionate about science education, especially at the collegiate level. While much of K-12 education has been targeted with concentrated educational efforts like NGSS, there is no national standard for collegiate education. Every college has objectives that students should meet upon graduation, but much of the course design is left to individual professors who may or may not have experience in teaching and pedagogy. Being a student in collegiate science and engineering for over ten years, I have experienced positive and negative aspects to our current instructional practices employed in the university. I wish to employ the Instructional Design process in combination with contemporary educational practices like inquiry-based learning, multimodal methods of communication, progress-based and competency-based assessments and examinations, mutual construction of knowledge and understanding, and student-centered learning experiences to transform our collegiate science educational practices.

Throughout this work, I strive to implement strategies to foster diversity, belonging, inclusion, equity, and accessibility wherever possible. This is one of the greatest barriers to scientific literacy and advancement. Everyone should be invited to the science party to create a diverse group of participants. However, inviting people to the party to "check off boxes" is not enough. Partygoers need to feel like they belong at the party or else they will not attend. This is the step between diversity and inclusion. Fostering inclusion is the process of ensuring all voices are heard and accounted for in the planning of the science party. Creating solutions to multifaceted problems can only be achieved if all stakeholders and all those impacted by the decision are present at the table. This is imperative in both the practice of science and the teaching of science and engineering. Equity is the process of asking whether the party is even the appropriate plan and dismantling systems that do not serve all of those invited to the gathering. Accessibility ensures that any and all materials and processes created during decision-making resolutions can be accessed by everyone.

​

This starts with redefining the belief of who is "allowed" to do science, what science looks like, how we practice and teach science, how we can incorporate other ways of knowing to improve our understanding of the world alongside science, how we can restructure our current science and education systems to dismantle oppressive practices, and how we can make science accessible for everyone by removing paywalls and creating media that all can interact with. These ideas are just the start of the work that needs to be done to improve science literacy and access. I am committed to doing what I can to advocate for and implement these ideas and practices in my science work.

​

Finally, my desire through research is to better understand, apply, and promote the utilization of renewable resources and processes for energy and product solutions, and the curtailment of nonrenewable materials in the marketplace. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the pulp and paper industry, lignocellulosic biomass, biological wastewater treatment, and biogas generation from microbial seeds. I aim to achieve these goals directly through the workplace as a researcher, industrial manager, or instructional designer for company practices, or indirectly through instruction of a new generation of collegiate STEM scholars as a faculty member at an esteemed college or university.

​

A guide to this CV: A PDF version of this CV is available at the top of this page. A more visual CV can be found below. Headings that are Bold, Underlined, and Italicized (Like This) are linked to pages with additional information about that portion of the CV.

Updates to this CV page and associated PDF are currently In Progress. Items will be continuously updated as new journeys are experienced!