Rachel Ianni touched and inspired many lives during her time spent at Nicholls working on her master’s degree in marine and environmental biology.   
While on one of her dream vacations to the Amazon Rainforest, the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu, she fell into a ravine while hiking and died on Jan. 1.  
Ianni graduated from Catholic Central High School in 2004 and earned a biology degree from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.  
In October 2009, the Nicholls Biology Department received a grant from Wildlife and Fisheries and the department recruited Ianni to work on the project.  Prior to her arrival at Nicholls, Ianni completed volunteer conservation work for AmeriCorps in Nevada.  
Quenton Fontenot, biology department head, said Ianni arrived in Louisiana eager to work on her thesis project.
“She loved going out in the field for projects. She would help people in the labs and help others with their thesis projects,” Fontenot said.  
The project, funded by Wildlife and Fisheries, dealt with the release of predatory fish such as alligator, catfish and large mouth bass to shrink the population of tilapia found in Port Sulphur.  
Fontenot said it was critical to reduce the amount of tilapia found in the canals since that type of fish could devastate the marsh ecosystem.  
Ianni traveled back and forth to Port Sulphur for a year to capture the predatory fish and through a non-lethal method, determine if they were serving their purpose and eating the tilapia.  
By pumping water into the fish through their throat, Ianni learned that not all of the predatory fish were eating the tilapia; however, she discovered other useful information about what they would eat.  
After receiving her master’s degree in only three semesters, Iannni moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she worked for Indiana Dunes National Forest, Chicago Public Schools and The Field Museum of Chicago.  
Fontenot said all of Ianni’s jobs and work experiences helped to further her education and teach others about the local ecosystems.  
“Her goal in life was to do what she can to make the world a better place,” Fontenot said.  “Everything she did was to help other people.”  
Michelle Felterman, a biology graduate student, met Ianni in 2010 before the Mardi Gras holidays and was shocked to learn about her death.  
“It took a good while for it to process,” Felterman said.  
She attended her funeral held in Ohio with several other Nicholls students and was able to speak with Ianni’s boyfriend, Zach, and members of her family.   
“Every day was a good day with Rachel. There are no bad memories,” Felterman said.  
The Nicholls State University Foundation has established a memorial fund in Ianni’s name to benefit Marine and Environmental Biology graduate student travel scholarships.
“It will give other people the opportunity to travel and see the world like she did,” Felterman said.   
Scholarship award details are still in the works, but anyone interested in making a donation to the Rachel Ianni Memorial Fund can send a check payable to the NSU Foundation (with Rachel Ianni written in the memo line) to:  
NSU Foundation
PO BOX 2074
Thibodaux, LA 70310
For more information on contributing to the memorial fund, contact Quenton Fontenot at [email protected] or visit nicholls.edu/biology and click on the “Rachel Ianni Memorial Fund” link.  
 “She was such a special person to so many people,” Fontenot said.  “To me she was the example of what was right in this world.”