Just days after graduating from the University of New England last May, Mina Regnery turned a competitive sustainability fellowship into a hands-on role applying AI to real-world marketing work - and expanded her professional network tenfold in the process.
Regnery, who earned a degree in sustainability and business, spent 10 weeks this summer at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in coastal Maine. Her assignment: help the reserve's communications office use AI to streamline how it reaches visitors, donors, volunteers, and the public.
The Wells Reserve is a coastal research hub operated in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It also runs educational programs and maintains seven miles of public trails. For Regnery, who wants to work as a social media or event director in sustainability, the fellowship put her in the exact role she hopes to hold one day.
From classroom to real-world AI work
Regnery first spent a month learning the communications office's workflow. Then she built five AI tools to speed up the production of promotional and educational material. Rachel McDonald, the reserve's communications and marketing director and Regnery's on-site mentor, said the tools have saved her team days of work per month.
"We have around 30-ish educational, nature-based programs we offer to the public every month, and I am a marketing team of one," McDonald said. "So being able to streamline that workflow has been really, really useful."
But the reserve drew a firm line on AI's limits. Because it's a conservation organization promoting time outdoors, it won't use AI-generated photography or video. Regnery spent much of her fellowship in the field with biologists and at public scientist talks, learning how to pair authentic, place-based images with AI-assisted copy.
"Being able to work at the reserve showed me how important it is to be able to figure out how to communicate properly to a broader audience of all the scientific research that they do," Regnery said. "You need to know the language you need to use and the audience that you're speaking to."
A fellowship that grew with her
Before Regnery finished her fellowship, Nik Charov, president of Laudholm Trust - the nonprofit that supports the reserve - asked her to present her AI work to the board of trustees. They were impressed.
"AI is moving so quickly, so it was both educational and exhilarating to have Mina working with us this summer at Laudholm Trust," Charov said. "The tools Mina built will save us days of work per month and open new opportunities. Our board of directors was very impressed when she presented her project. Students and Sustainability Fellows like Mina give us all hope for the future."
Jeremy Pare, assistant teaching professor in UNE's College of Business and director of the Sustainability and Business program, had Regnery in class and encouraged her to apply for the fellowship. He said her academic record and interest in AI made her a natural fit for the reserve role.
"I saw the potential in her academic ability to suggest her specifically for the role," Pare said. "Because I knew Mina was excited about AI, I was able, as a mentor and as someone who had her in class, to say, 'Hey, we have this great opportunity with this fellowship. And it's outside of business, but they can give you a skillset that you could bring back to business.'"
The UNE Sustainability Fellowship Program launched three years ago with six fellows. In 2026, Regnery was one of 23 students and recent graduates placed with businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits working on sustainability and climate adaptation.
Regnery spent her final two weeks meeting with the new connections she'd made. She plans to reach out to the other 29 national estuarine research reserves about marketing and communications openings.
"I would love to pursue a career in sustainability but also incorporate the marketing into that," she said. "The Wells Reserve is one of 30 national estuarine research reserves. So, I'm going to reach out to the other 29 to see if they need a marketing communications person and put my contact information out there."
Why this matters for operations professionals
Regnery's fellowship is a working model for how AI can handle routine communications and marketing tasks without replacing the human judgment behind them. For operations teams, the lesson is practical: AI tools are most effective when they automate repetitive workflow - like drafting program descriptions or scheduling posts - while humans retain control over authenticity, branding, and audience-specific messaging. The reserve's decision to ban AI-generated images is a reminder that the technology works best as an efficiency tool, not a substitute for the organization's core identity.
Your membership also unlocks:
