Nivedita enjoys reading, writing, playing tennis, biking, jogging, dancing, swimming, and playing the piano. In the future, Nivedita wants to become a scientist, "because furthering and researching science makes the most impact not only on the current generation, but on future ones as well."
Nivedita's science hero is her dad. "He is always interested in science and is the one who nurtured my love for science."
After watching a television program about Liberty City in Miami-Dade County, Nivedita was introduced to the concept of environmental justice (EJ). EJ is the unequal distribution of toxic sites near areas of high-poverty or minority concentration. Following a few major toxin scandals, the government passed the Emergency Planning and Community's Right-to-Know Act, which mandated that industries and factories disclose their annual toxic-release amounts in a Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Nivedita hypothesized that public schools would be located within a one-mile radius of a TRI facility. She also believed that minority and lower-income communities live in census tracts with TRI facilities and that they outnumber higher-income communities living in those tracts.
Using ArcView 3.2 Geographic Information System software, a high-level technological tool that assembles and displays information relative to spatial locations, Nivedita combined the distribution of TRI facilities with minority and lower-income demographic variables. She also incorporated a one-mile buffer zone around schools that fell within the boundaries of a TRI facility. Results showed that 58 of 363 public schools were within a one-mile radius of a TRI facility and faced potential health risks. Nivedita also concluded that low-income populations were more likely to live in census tracts with TRI facilities. Overall, Nivedita proved that environmental injustice is occurring in Miami-Dade County.
