New Graduate Works to Sustain the Planet
Brian Ohiaeri ’26 talks about milkweed, monarch butterflies, and how to land that first job out of college.
What do you do?
I’m a biology intern for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. I’m based in Sunol, in the East Bay, working on different environmental projects in the Alameda Creek Watershed.
What does a day in the field look like?
It varies. Some days we’re out doing fish surveys as a team, and other days we’re doing plant work. When we’re doing plant work, we look for something like milkweed, which attracts monarch butterflies, an endangered species. For the milkweed, we mark the plants so we can return and check on them later. For fish work, we count fish and check their health. Also, we tag trout with PIT [passive integrated transponder] tags, and we’ve got sensors around the watershed, so if a tagged trout swims by, this tells us the fish is still alive and using the habitat — a good sign for the population.
Your major?
I graduated in May 2026 with a major in environmental science and a minor in Asian studies. I also have a GIS certificate — geographic information systems. It’s basically like advanced Google Maps.
How did you find this job?
I found it on Handshake. In my sophomore year, a friend at USF told me I should download Handshake, so I did. Ever since, I’d apply to jobs and most of the time I would just not hear back. But last year I saw a listing for this biologist intern position and thought, that’s in my lane, so I applied. I started in February, before I graduated.
What’s your career advice to students just starting college?
Once you find what you want to do, try doing things to put on your resume. Any class you take, put it on your resume. Volunteer work, put it on your resume. Employers want to see experience. Try not to worry too much about grades. I had two C’s in biology and I still got a biology job, so experience can make up for grades.
