UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Bridget Reheard, a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, native, has been named the student marshal for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ (EMS) summer 2025 commencement ceremony, which will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, in the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State's University Park campus.
A Penn State Millennium Scholar and Schreyer Scholar, Reheard will graduate with two bachelor of science degrees: one in geosciences from EMS and another in wildlife and fisheries science from the College of Agricultural Sciences. She was named to the dean’s list for all eight semesters and is graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 grade-point average.
Reheard said that she felt really grateful when learning that she was named the summer marshal for EMS.
“During my time at Penn State, I was adamant about seizing and making the most of every opportunity I could get,” she said. “I worked tirelessly to complete my two degrees in four years while building enough research credentials to be competitive for doctorate programs. Being recognized as marshal feels to me like a culmination of my hard work and it brings my last chapter at Penn State to a fulfilling close.”
Reheard received numerous awards for her scholarship, including the Evan Pugh Scholar Award and the President Walker Award from Penn State, as well as the Orpha Kelly Rapp and Jesse Rossiter Rapp ’15 Prize for Academic Excellence and Gamma Sigma Delta Award for Outstanding Senior from the College of Agricultural Sciences. She also was named as an EMSAGE Laureate by EMS.
Reheard was one of three Penn State students named a Goldwater Scholar, and she was awarded an Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Reheard was very involved in undergraduate research. She worked with Susan Brantley, Atherton Professor and Evan Pugh University Professor Emerita of Geosciences, and Paola Ferreri, associate professor of fisheries management, evaluating the potential effects of shale gas development on fish and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in second-order streams in Clinton and Lycoming counties.
“We used strontium isotopes as a chemical fingerprint to look for brine signatures representative of the Marcellus Shale Formation in streams,” Reheard said. “Where brine was found, we investigated the quality and distribution of fish and macroinvertebrate communities.”
Reheard also conducted research though summer internships. She worked at the Duke University Marine Lab using DNA sequencing to determine genetic changes in a small estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus, before and after remediation of the Elizabeth River system, a designated Superfund in southeastern Virginia polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. As a NOAA intern, she researched the toxicity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on larval sheepshead minnows to determine how the contaminants biochemically affect the minnows. During the spring 2025 semester, she worked as a hydrologic technician in the ARM Group’s State College location. She worked on identifying sources for potable water extraction and collected stream flow, water quality and groundwater data.
Reheard has advice for future students interested in EMS at Penn State.
“The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences affords you flexibility in your career paths,” Reheard said. “For instance, in geosciences, I am aware of my peers pursuing very different coursework paths ranging from volcanology to seismology to environmental chemistry. I am aware of students going to work for environmental consulting firms to do soil science and hydrology. Many students also build substantial credentials to be competitive for research programs. The EMS professors have shown me the utmost kindness, respect and guidance. The professors of EMS truly care for their students and have helped me attain my goals inside the classroom, searching for jobs and searching for graduate programs.”
Reheard received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation for 2025 and will be starting her doctorate in the Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health program at Duke University this fall.
“I intend to continue my ecotoxicology research on the fate, transport and uptake of contaminants by biota in aquatic environments,” Reheard said. “My work at Penn State has given me the basis to understand how contaminants move through aquatic systems and how they affect survivorship of aquatic life. My time at Penn State has further instilled the value that I place in the work that I do for the future of clean water for ecosystems and consumers.”
Reheard credits her research mentors with her academic success.
“Dr. Susan Brantley was my favorite faculty member, and I was lucky to have been able to work with her to conduct research as an undergraduate student,” Reheard said. “She, Dr. Ferreri and Samuel Shaheen, then a graduate student and now a postdoctoral associate at the Yale School of the Environment, really pushed me to be the best version of myself and were very patient with me as I was learning. It is the reason that I am pursuing environmental toxicology in graduate school.”
Reheard’s parents, Jill Shreiner and Jeffrey Koziarski, will be attending the commencement ceremony.