CC&E Student Named to 2023 Tiger Twelve

College of the Coast & Environment senior Aine O'Nuanain was recently named to the Tiger Twelve Class of 2023
Hometown: Bossier City, Louisiana
CES Concentration: Applied Environmental Sciences

Aine O’Nuanain has a passion for water. “It’s so paradoxical,” she says. “There are two sides to it. It’s such a precious resource, and a right--so many people don’t have access to clean water--and at the same time, there’s so many people threatened with flooding every single year. It’s interesting to me that these problems can coincide in the same place. In Baton Rouge, we've had flooding, but we also have problems with saltwater getting into the drinking water systems. We're facing both sides of the issue.”

This paradox speaks to O’Nuanain’s pursuit of a combination of hard science and social impact, which has become a defining characteristic of her time at LSU.

She first realized her interest in the intertwining of scientific questions and social issues when she became a Louisiana Service and Leadership, or LASAL, Scholar in the Ogden Honors College. There she began to learn more about Louisiana’s coastal issues, and how they impacted lives. And the Coastal Environmental Sciences, or CES, major, allowed her to fully marry the two.

“That’s where I want to be, is in coastal work. That’s the way I can truly combine all of my interests, combine everything I really care about within the realm of environmental science.”

As a CES major also enrolled in the Honors College, she has fully explored the complexity and importance coastal work already. She recently completed her Honors Thesis, under the direction of Michael Polito, an associate professor in the Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences. She looked at the effects of freshwater siphons—essentially miniature freshwater diversions—on the decomposition of species of coastal marsh grass.

O’Nuanain plans to continue on this path after graduation. Earlier this year, she became the recipient of a Rotary Global Grant Scholarship which she is planning to use to attend Utrecht University in the Netherlands, to get a Master’s Global Challenges for Sustainability.

Ultimately, her plan is to return to Louisiana, and continue her work in coastal resiliency in some capacity. “I know what I want to do—come back, help Louisiana communities be more resilient to the fact that water levels are going to continue to rise,” she said. “I want to help the communities that are the most vulnerable here prepare for that.”

Being a member of the Tiger Twelve is just another marker of the service to Louisiana that she holds as so important. “I feel like the definition of it is someone who contributed positively to LSU and the surrounding community. I feel like to be acknowledged for that when I was striving for it all along without knowing it is really special, a really cool bookend to this experience and the journey this has been.”

Each year, 12 seniors are selected to be members of the Tiger Twelve, based upon their positive contributions to campus life, the surrounding community, or society in general. Aine O’Nuanain is the third CC&E student to receive this honor. Check the Tiger Twelve webpage for a complete list of winners.