Visualizing Solutions: Turning Plastic Waste into Blue Jean Dye

Hello! My name is Victoria Nguyen and I’m majoring in environmental studies at USC. This summer, I interned with the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability and worked under Dr. Travis Williams. I want to thank the whole Wrigley Institute team for the opportunity and all the support throughout the program.

I’ve loved animals for as long as I can remember and have always been interested in sustainability. One of my hobbies is sewing and thrifting to reduce waste, which is part of what got me thinking more seriously about how much impact industries have on the environment. That interest slowly led me to major in environmental studies and explore different parts of the field. I applied for this internship because I wanted to get a better idea of how research works and to see if I might want to go into environmental communications in the future. I also wanted to improve my graphic design skills in a setting that felt more professional.

During the internship, I created a table of contents graphic for one of Dr. Williams’s PhD students named Anju. I also made a mock graphic to include in my capstone video which focuses on how plastic could be reused in a more sustainable way. It was interesting seeing how research projects could focus on such specific problems and still feel meaningful. One thing I didn’t expect was how much chemistry plays a role in solving environmental problems. I had never really thought of chemistry as a tool for sustainability, but seeing how the lab worked made that connection clearer.

Even though I wasn’t working directly with chemical formulas or lab experiments, just being in that environment made me realize how many directions environmental work can take. I got to hear about the different research topics students in the lab were working on. It was interesting seeing how everyone had such different focuses, even within the same lab group. It made me realize how broad environmental research can be and how many different approaches people can take depending on their interests.

Some things I learned during this internship were how to give and receive feedback better and how to work more independently on projects. At times, translating scientific ideas into visuals felt tricky, especially when I wasn’t sure how technical or simplified the graphics should be. However, learning to make decisions, test ideas, and revise based on feedback helped me get more confident in my creative process. That trial-and-error process ended up being valuable.

It also helped me figure out what kind of work I want to do going forward. Even though I appreciate everything I learned about academic research, I realized I’m more drawn to working in a faster-moving, more public-facing space. I still want to focus on sustainability, but I see myself using design and communication skills in a business or media setting–somewhere I can help translate ideas and make them more accessible to broader audiences. This internship helped clarify that for me, and gave me experience I know I’ll carry into whatever I do next. Thank you again to the Wrigley Institute and Dr. Williams for such a great summer.

Watch Veronica’s internship capstone video below.