Gloria Ko

Bachelor of Science (Honours), Geography and Environmental Sciences • McMaster University

Bio

Gloria graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Geography and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Sustainability at McMaster University. Born on Earth Day, and coupled with a diverse series of extracurriculars, and leadership roles, Gloria is highly capable of approaching complex environments through multiple angles.

As a student ambassador of McMaster’s Academic Sustainability Programs Office, she volunteered closely with the senior manager in discovering the most efficient ways of engaging students across all faculties on the breadth of sustainability to pursue the minor.  By delivering class talks, planning a networking event to connect working individuals in the green economy sector with students, as well as the “Eco To Go” project in potentially implementing reuseable takeout containers to reduce food packaging, Gloria has learned how to coordinate and collaborate amongst an interdisciplinary team.  Gloria had the priviledge to volunteer for a medical service trip in Nicaragua with Global Brigades; a non-profit organization to aid with health care. This experience marked Gloria’s belief for equal entitlement for all, thus she strongly advocated for environmental justice to raise awareness in rural communities of Honduras on proper waste management and access to water and electricity resources. Gloria was passionate on global environmental disparities during her internship at the UNU-INWEH (United Nations, Institute for Water, Environment and Health) on researching water-related issues and summarizing nature-based solutions where she sharpened her technical data skills. Gloria is driven to reduce the environmental impacts from the food sector by suggesting solutions of plastic packaging alternatives in grocery stores during her time at OPIRG (Ontario Public Interest Research Group).  

Weight-lifting, running and being overall health conscious is not just a hobby but a lifestyle choice that Gloria strives for. She strongly believes that the built environment highly influences our mental well-being and conservation efforts, and hopes that the MScSM program can guide her with suggesting improvements to urban planning and pollution reduction.

Gloria's MScSM Internship: Environmental Advisory Group 

(Download poster here)