Mengyi Zhang joined Syracuse University in 2017 as an M.S. student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. She is working with Dr. Svetoslava Todorova to build a low-cost, off-the-shelf monitor to predict harmful algal bloom in Skaneateles Lake. She is originally from China and received her B.S. degree in Qingdao Technological University in Shandong province. Her undergraduate research focused on passive villa architecture in Qingdao. The reason she changed her major from Architectural Environment and Energy Application Engineering to Environmental Engineering is because she cares about the water more than she thought. She loves nature and crazy for hiking and diving. Now she’s enjoying the time with her one-year-old cat, Mimi, who likes to be walked and experience foreign cultures.