On Saturday, May 11, Glory Iorliam will stand at Bender Arena’s podium at the 147th Commencement to represent the College of Arts and Sciences’ graduate Class of 2024.

Glory traveled a long way to attend graduate school at American University. She’s from Nigeria, where her husband and two young children live. But when she heard about the opportunity to study in AU’s Master of Environmental Science program, supported by the department’s graduate merit award scholarship and a Teaching Assistant position, she knew she couldn’t pass it up. She got on an airplane for the very first time and traveled halfway around the world to Washington, DC. 

“I earned my bachelor’s degree in forestry in 2017 from the University of Agriculture Makurdi, in Nigeria, and in my third year of the five-year program, I decided to focus on climate change,” Glory says. “I heard a PhD student speak about American University and how it was the first US university to have a carbon-neutral campus. I felt it was a good place for me to contribute to solutions for global environmental challenges, particularly climate change, and I said, ‘I am definitely going to go to this school!’”

Solutions to Global Environmental Challenges

Glory Iorliam collecting tree measurements at UMBC

During her time at AU, Glory conducted innovative research that utilized radon, a radioactive noble gas, to trace methane emissions from trees and soils at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), one of the world’s leading research institutions in science, on a National Science Foundation-funded project. 

Glory points out that this research conducted in the United States will give her hands-on research experience and increase her understanding of greenhouse gases while helping her discover sustainable solutions to global environmental challenges like climate change.  

“It is no longer news that the climate is changing and changing fast, says Glory. “Lowering methane emissions, an important greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in a 20-year time period, offers the fastest chance to address climate change, an opportunity we can grab only if we understand the mechanisms behind its emissions.”

Glory worked with Professor and Environmental Science Department Chair Karen Knee on the SERC project. “I have had an amazing experience working with Glory over the past year,” Knee said. “We collected data under all conditions. Once, we even slept in a field station so we could sample the trees overnight every four hours. Glory is kind, thoughtful, and hard-working, and she asks great scientific questions. I have no doubt that she will go on to make great contributions to science and the world.”

Glory also presented her research in the AU’s 2023 STEM Student Research program (in partnership with the NASA DC Space Grant Consortium), assisted in faculty collaborative research funded by the National Science Foundation, and presented at a three-day conference at the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society. She also served as a co-senator representing Environmental Science graduate students and as a program coordinator for the Graduate Black Student Union.

The Value of an Education

Glory has not stopped working towards her goals, even during the final weeks before commencement. She successfully defended her thesis on gas fluxes in trees, using a radioactive noble gas to trace the biophysical transport of a potent greenhouse gas—methane—in trees and cypress knees. She participated in a research poster competition at the 2024 National Capital Region Water Resources Symposium hosted by the American Water Resources Association—and emerged as the first runner-up. And, finally, she presented her research at the AU’s 34th Annual Robyn Rafferty Mathias Student Research Conference. For Glory, a first-gen student, being the first in her family to obtain a master’s degree is a testament to the importance of education as a “powerful weapon for change.” It’s something she learned from her mother, who overcame great obstacles to obtain an education in Nigeria before finally becoming a schoolteacher for adult learners. 

When asked her advice for future generations of AU Eagles, Glory says, “I encourage you to not give up on your dreams, don’t give up on love, don’t give up on life, push through, and pay the price today for a better tomorrow. It is costly, but it is worth it.”