This is my last week at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation before final exams. I have already presented the final report for my semester long monitoring project, which was quite an experience. I’ve never had to give such a long public presentation. My group’s presentation ended up being around an hour long. For our project we attempted to determine if land management practices at a local nature preserve affected habitat use by seed-eating passerine species in the fall. It was an extremely valuable experience to be able to practice formulating my own ecological study and present my findings in a public setting. I hope to one day become an ecological researcher; therefore it was a very valuable opportunity.
Coming into the semester, I knew that I was passionate about biodiversity and passionate about science. What I didn’t know was if that meant I would end up working in a zoo, at a university, in a governmental organization. I had a broad scope of careers in mind, but I was scarred to definitively pick a path. Because of all the experiences and knowledge I have gained this semester, I have been able to narrow my course. I believe that becoming an ecological researcher or an evolutionary biologist is what suites me best. What I haven’t been able to decide is what taxa or ecosystem I want to devote my studies to specifically but I’m passionate about a wide variety so I’m very open minded about it.
One way being at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute helped guide my career choice was by being exposed to a variety topics and people from the zoo world. I had always thought that I maybe interested in a career with a zoo. I have six years of animal husbandry experience from working at a wildlife rehabilitation center in my hometown, so it seemed like a natural option. While I respect the work zoos to conserve species, I have found that captive populations depress me a bit and so I don’t believe I would enjoy working with them.
One experience this semester that helped guide me in my career goals was my practicum experience. Every Monday, instead of having lecture, I would spend the day working with the Conservation Ecology Office here at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. My mentor for practicum was a research here that has worked on species from deer, to oak trees, to pandas. My practicum focused on a long term monitoring project that tracks the production of acorns by oak trees in the region.
Through that experience I improved my ability to work with datasets and gained field skills. Multiple days of my practicum were spent collecting acorns from the sampling plots. Some were onsite; others were in the Shenandoah National Park. I learned that designing ecological monitoring projects can be quite difficult. I also learned that sampling can be a painfully difficult experience. Once all of the acorns were collected I also had the chance to process them for the data.
Through this project I not only gained skills and insist into ecological research, I also gained a great deal of knowledge about oak trees and their role in eastern deciduous forests. Trees are not a taxa I had much knowledge of prior to this semester, so it was very interesting to learn about their ecology. I didn’t only work with this project at the Conservation Ecology Office however. I also worked on BiodiversiTREE, a one hundred year long forest experiment that was started last year. I planted and survey saplings in the plots and again gained more knowledge about trees! I also gained experience working with large sets of data through my practicum. Acorn production data has been collected from across the eastern United States for many years now, and I was tasked with compiling the data into graphs to determine if there were any trends worth evaluating statistically. I believe all of these experiences will ultimately better me in my future pursuits.
Another key improvement I have made through this semester is becoming more comfortable in professional networking. Through meeting a variety of conservation professional and see things behind the scenes at big name places such as the National Museum of Natural History and the Museum Support Center, I have become more comfortable with pursuing opportunities and contacting individuals. I recently interviewed for an internship with the entomology department at the National Museum of Natural History and was given a position for my winter break. I was given this opportunity because I went out on a whim and inquired to an individual within the department via e-mail. Before this semester I would not have been comfortable reaching out to someone like this for an opportunity and likely would not have found a position for this winter.
Hopefully, through this internship opportunity I will continue to become more comfortable in the professional word, while making relationships with more people in the realm of science and conservation. I also hope to gain skills and technical knowledge that might help further guide my career goals. Entomology is field that fascinates me but that I have had little exposure to.
One thing I will greatly miss about being here on campus at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, besides the food, is the community of likeminded peers and professionals. This was the first time I have ever been immersed in a community that shares my passion for biodiversity, science, and conservation. Up until now I have hardly had interaction, even in my classes at George Mason, with people who are pursuing careers in fields related to mine. I hope that going forward from this, we maintain the same close-knit network and sense of community that has formed here over the course of the semester. I know that many of my classes next semester will include people I have met through my time here and I hope that I continue to have shared experiences with my fellow classmates he, I’m excited to spend more time learning with them.