Sofi Courtney

Drexel faculty mentor: Elizabeth Watson, James Spotila

Sofi Courtney transferred to Drexel University in 2016 after a career as a bicycle mechanic and horticulturist. As a member of the West Philadelphia community, Sofi has been a leader in many community garden and land maintenance projects. At Drexel she is studying environmental science with a concentration on ecology and conservation and hopes to use her education to promote the conservation of wild places through research and public engagement. Her research interest is focused on plant animal interactions in wetlands, particularly in swamps and bogs. Sofi's first co-op was with the Coastal Change Lab at Academy of Natural Sciences, where she still works today. For her second co-op, Sofi performed research on plant-animal interactions in giant panda habitat in Western China, and conducted research at the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Reserve for her third co-op. She is also the President of the Drexel Naturalists Association and a Polgar Fellow of the Hudson River Foundation.

Last updated: September 2019