Keehn is focusing on research she was recently awarded the Regent’s Scholar Award for, which involves studying the effects of renewable energy on reptile populations and the ecosystem in general. Because she believes the transition to renewable energy is inevitable, Keehn began focusing on how renewable energy facilities affect surrounding ecosystems because the facilities take up mass quantities of habitat.

Though she hasn’t started her fieldwork yet, Keehn plans to soon so she can begin to understand how these huge facilities affect bird populations, plants, insects, reptiles and all other organisms involved.

“Because of the scale of impact from these situations, you aren’t going to lose species entirely, but it will impact our environment and affect the way things interact,” Keehn said.