Haina Luo
| Home Town | Baotou, China |
| Previous Education | B.Sc. Natural Resources Conservation, UBC |
Why did you apply for the Master of Land and Water Systems?
I came from a forestry background from UBC. During my undergraduate period, I had the pleasure to work with professionals in the field of agriculture, urban forestry, forest management, and GIS. Each role has taught me something different and, more importantly, my passion for land, water, forests and how they connect and function together kept developing. Personally, I enjoy camping and hiking or just simply being outdoors. Those experience brought me to MLWS, where I am hoping to hone my skills for resources evaluation and management.
I want to become an environmental consultant after graduate, focusing on water system management. I chose MLWS because it seems like the right program to go for!
What are you most excited about learning in the MLWS program?
I am excited to do my own project. It is a great opportunity to apply my skills and knowledge into one problem I’d like to solve. As a solution-orientated person, nothing gives me more pleasure than watching everything I’ve learned come all together to a academically valuable result.
What are some of your favourite hobbies?
My first job in Canada was trying to use 1,300 sheep to control canopy into a 20%-30% rate–so the newly planted spruce and pines can thrive! There were 6 brilliant border collies (they could tell that we weren’t the boss so they didn’t really obey us unless our boss was around, so pretty brilliant), 1,300 sheep and 5 UBC Forestry students. The mission failed due to unspeakable reasons. College students can’t herd sheep, apparently. Some of my other jobs include data analyst for urban forestry, wild mushroom picker (yes, it is a legit Co-op job), flower farm worker, etc. Right now I am working as a part-time professional for UNICEF and Waterlution to help build a community-based composting system in Syrian informal settlements in Lebanon. I work with 4 team members all from different continents–so image how difficult it is to arrange a virtual meeting that fits everybody’s schedules. However, we are making it happen.