Alumna finds her fit with a career in environmental planning

An hour north of New York City, College of Natural Resources and Environment alumna Abagail Megna '21 is pursuing a career in environmental planning in her hometown of Katonah, New York.

“My role mainly involves obtaining environmental permits, which requires coordinating with federal, state, and local agencies on many different types of projects,” said Megna, who is an environmental scientist for HDR Inc., an architecture, engineering, environmental, and construction company that emphasizes smart infrastructure solutions.

From the organization’s office in White Plains, New York, Megna corresponds frequently with government agencies, such as the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, to ensure that engineering projects are environmentally compliant. Her favorite projects to work on involve transportation infrastructure and offshore wind farms.

“I utilize a lot of the skills I learned in college and have since expanded on them, which is very rewarding,” said Megna, who graduated from the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation with a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management and minors in both forestry and watershed management. “Once everything is said and done, to be able to breathe that sigh of relief and look back on what you did is really rewarding.”

In addition to her work at HDR, Megna became a certified arborist under the standards of the International Society of Arboriculture in April. Her journey to that certification began in Professor John Seiler’s dendrology laboratory, which helped her to learn vital tree identification skills that she applies as an arborist.

Professor Carolyn Copenheaver also inspired Megna’s ambitions while helping her get her career jump-started with an internship with the Davey Tree Company.

“I needed guidance, especially when I was just starting to think about an internship in the summer of my junior year that was focused in my field,” said Megna, who worked on a tree crew in Mount Kisco, New York, during her internship. “Sure enough, that [internship] played a very big part in helping me get my arborist certification.”

As a recent graduate, Megna has worked to find a sense of belonging in her career.

“It can be tough to find a place where you fit in so perfectly,” said Megna, who graduated on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, a challenging moment to transition into the workforce. “You figure out what you like and what you don’t like, and let that lead you. The moment when I knew that I was in the right position, I think that was really something I celebrated.”

Mollie Coogan ’24, the college’s employer relations intern for the past academic year, contributed to this story.