An Environmentalist Seeks to Understand Mineral Resources: A Student Profile on Nicole Collins

While Nicole Collins initially came to the University of Arizona to study Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law, she decided to make the switch to Environmental Studies after becoming more interested in climate change and the environment. She was originally minoring in Economics, but switched to Sustainable Mineral Resources when she learned about the minor during a meeting with Students for Sustainability.

“Natural resources and nonrenewable resources are becoming scarce,” says Collins. “Ethical extraction and use of those resources is going to be really important in the upcoming years.” 

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Nicole Collins receives scholarship at Mines for Limitless Minds Event.

In the future, Collins hopes to go into the Peace Corps’ environmental sector. She hopes to go onto conservation after the Peace Corps, or if the opportunity presents itself, land reclamation. 

“Before hearing about the minor, I had never really thought about mining that much, besides lithium and electric vehicles. I never really thought about mining or where resources came from,” says Collins. “There’s usually a negative connotation around mining in environmental advocacy, but after learning a bit about it,” there are ways to improve the industry while still extracting the necessary resources. 

Outside of academics, Collins is a co-chair of the waste reduction committee for Students for Sustainability and a member of Epsilon Eta. She is also a part of the Peace Corps Prep Program. Based on the sector you choose, there’s a set of classes you take, as well as attending events, networking, volunteering, and leadership experience. Upon completion of the program, Collins will receive a certificate which will leverage her above the other candidates applying to the Peace Corps. 

“Learning about sustainable resources would help with wherever I go in the peace corps,” says Collins. “A lot of developing countries are heavily impacted by resource extraction, so it’s a good thing to have in my tool box.” 

Her advice to students? “Find your niche, whatever you want to do within environmental studies or mining. Find like-minded people who are also interested in the things you want to do” so you can make friends. 

Collins describes how much she enjoys her path of study. “Everything I’m learning is new.” Her classes’ content overlap with each other and fuel her passions. She’s looking forward to learning more about mining and sustainable resource extraction.