Sarah Gerth is iSEE’s Proposal Developer and Financial Specialist. She joined the Institute in May 2022, but has been working with the University of Illinois since 2019, where she was a Grants and Contracts Associate.
After receiving her associate’s degree at Parkland College, Sarah worked for Champaign County in local government for 10 years. Around 2012, she decided she wanted to go back to school to receive her B.S. in Business Administration. She completed her degree in two years, and had a daughter shortly before graduating. Celebrating her graduation with her month-old daughter is “an accomplishment that I’m very proud of.”
Sarah’s interest in sustainability blossomed through her work with the Technical Assistance Program at the Prairie Research Institute. This program works with college campuses around the nation and takes a look at their waste audits. Her experience with this organization led her to focus more on the amount of waste we produce and various reduction methods that can be implemented.
“I live in the country, but I still recycle,” Sarah said. “I just can’t throw a glass jar in the waste … I think everything that we can do to make our lives better is a good thing.”
Her responsibilities at iSEE involve a lot of “basic maintenance” of finances. Sarah updates accounts and funds for Principal Investigators (PIs) of ongoing research projects, and works on projections to give them an idea of what their expenses look like.
In her free time, Sarah enjoys cooking and baking. She loves to spend time with her kids and taking them to museums, productions, and plays. She has also recently started her very own garden.
— Article by iSEE Communications Intern Kratika Tandon