Large-scale tourism can benefit a region economically but have many negative effects on the destination’s people and environment.  

University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences student Abbey McNely is researching the impact of tourism in Bali, Indonesia, with Betsy Beymer-Farris, Ph.D., assistant professor of geography at UK, and Jeffrey Seay, Ph.D, professor of chemical engineering at UK’s Paducah campus. This project began two years ago and pushed her into the world of research.  

“Essentially what I’m doing is examining the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism in Bali, Indonesia, and examining ways you can mitigate the disparities that tourism causes in indigenous populations,” McNely said.  

McNely, a Lexington native, is an Environmental and Sustainability Studies major as well as a UK research ambassador. In addition to looking at tourism Bali, McNely is researching how UK students feel about climate issues alongside Lauren Cagle, Ph.D., This research is done based on the Yale Climate Survey.  

“We wanted to see how socioeconomic history, location, where they’re (students) from, how old they are, what their major is, if any of that has an impact on how they view climate change and how they view environment disparities,” McNely said.  

McNely started her college career as an English major with aspirations of going to work for a publishing company. She realized, however, that it wasn’t the path for her, and she began looking at other majors by her sophomore year. After taking a few environment and sustainability classes, McNely said she decided she wanted to pursue it as her major.  

“I just ended up taking a few classes and one of them was environmental anthropology with Crystal Felima (Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology and African American and Africana Studies and affiliate faculty in Environmental and Sustainability Studies), and then it just kept going and I was like, I really like this major,” McNely said.  

She realized through research what she wanted to do was help people who are affected by climate change.  

“It really just made me realize there is so much more to college than getting your degree and there is so much more to life than just making money,” McNely said. 

McNely spends 90% of her time on campus working her two jobs, serving as a research ambassador and pursuing her degree. She started her research ambassadorship this semester, and she said she enjoys working with students who are also passionate about research.  

“We do it because we are passionate about it and do it because we love the research and we want other students to realize that there is research everywhere,” McNely said.

She works for the Robert E. Hemenway Writing Center on campus and as a social media intern for the sustainability internship program.  

“It’s been really amazing,” she said about her social media internship. “This is my second year doing it. I absolutely love it. What we’re really focusing on this year, which is something I’ve been really looking forward to, is expressing to different audiences that sustainability isn’t just environmental; it’s an interdisciplinary science.” 

Recently, McNely said, she’s been applying to graduate schools, and when she’s not on campus she’ll go to the gym, read, try out new coffee shops and go thrifting.  

“My favorite find is a pair of vintage leather Coach riding boots that I got at the Drunken Flea warehouse at the Burl (in Lexington) in October," she said. “I love them so much and they were very cheap and in amazing condition.” 

UK’s Undergraduate Research Ambassadors are a multidisciplinary, diverse team of students engaged in research in different fields of study across campus and serve a central role as advocates at UK. The ambassadors work to inspire broader engagement in undergraduate research by educating and serving the UK community and beyond. Ambassadors provide presentations to the campus community, create relevant workshops and programming and represent the Office of Undergraduate Research, their respective colleges and UK at research, recruiting and outreach events. For more information on becoming an ambassador, go here