About Me - extended (07/19/2024)

I began my about me and realized it's way too long and doesn't exactly get to the point, so I will post my word vomit here. Also see another upcoming post with my personal statement (generic) to get to know more about me and my journey to science.

Growing up, I had no idea that being a scientist was a career possibility, yet I had always had an innate curiosity and deep connection to the natural world that governed much of my interests. As I got to choose my courses in my undergrad, these interests developed further and I had been exposed to new things that I'd never known previously existed, and it absolutely changed my world view. Having began my undergraduate degree in 2020, it was challenging to get a foothold in research, but in 2023 I joined the Puritz Lab of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Rhode Island as an undergraduate researcher, and that completely revolutionized my understanding of science and how it is applicable to me. Currently, I am a member of the Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution, where I will be embarking upon independent research for the next year (2024-2025). Following that, I am planning on getting my PhD, and then from there, I don't know!

In a broader, more ideological sense, my ultimate goal would be to provide the public, especially underrepresented populations in STEM fields, with the knowledge they need to understand the scientific process and the fundamentals of science in addition to being able to understand new science news and scientific data. I want to make others feel empowered in their ability to make decisions regarding science that affect them and their community, and having the actual social capital and confidence to do so. I also want to empower these groups to understand that a career in science or even more broadly, STEM, is accessible to them, while also actually producing the social change that makes that true. Additionally, I would like to perform my own research that explores the effects of anthropogenic climate change on evolutionary ecology, specifically research that would inform state and federal legislature regarding regulatory measures and affect conservation efforts. I feel as though I would be best able to achieve these goals in a position as an extension specialist, as I would like to work with a broader community than just school or college aged children. Though being a PI may enable me to fulfill these goals as well, I would prefer to take a more active role in interacting with the community and extending science to individuals who do not already exist within those spaces. Aside from being an extension specialist, I believe another possible career choice that I would enjoy is working within a governmental agency (i.e. NOAA, EPA, USDA, USFWS) as a biological researcher and compiling meaningful data that affects legislature and serves as a knowledge base for the public, although I understand this role also comes with its own challenges and obstacles. Perhaps there are other roles that I would really enjoy settling into long-term, but as I gain more experience within science and academia, that will likely further shape my decision and the choices available to me, although those core values and goals will likely still always be important to me. 

My research interests are incredibly varied and thus far undeveloped due to my current lack of many research experiences, but broadly, I am interested in anthropogenic stressors and their effects upon evolutionary ecology. I have experience researching how diel-cycled coastal acidification and low dissolved oxygen affect natural selection and microevolution within various populations of Crassostrea virginica across multiple life stages. I also have experience aiding in multiple disease challenges on larval oysters and juvenile oysters with Vibrio coralliilyticus and Roseovarius crassostreae, respectively. Moving forward, I am interested in gaining more experience with environmental microbiology, microbial ecology and evolution, and phytoplankton ecology, especially with respect to anthropogenic stressors. I am also interested in the inhibitory effects of various types of macroalgae upon phytoplankton species responsible for harmful algal blooms, and the application of this information in an aquaculture setting. However, I am also excited to further explore my research interests and I’m excited to see where my experience in the Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution (LAGNiAppE) leads me!

Aside from my interests in science, I also really enjoy just going for walks outside, taking pictures of trees and animals, swimming in the ocean, watching sunsets and, when I'm not feeling lazy, seeing the sunrise, and I love cats and truthfully all animals. I also love(d) running, but right now I am pretty far from being in shape enough to where I find running to be enjoyable and not painful, and I prefer running outside, especially in crisp morning or fall weather, so moving to Louisiana wasn't super conducive to jump starting my running career again. I also love painting, reading, drawing, and producing art, as well as doing my makeup (very maximialist makeup is my niche because it takes an art form). If I wasn't a scientist, I would probably be a veterinarian or a tattoo artist, or truthfully perhaps a teacher. My favorite foods are pickles (+ pickle juice), sweet potatoes, sunny side up eggs, cinnamon raisin bread, indian food of all sorts, all mexican food, a good juicy peach or plum, crisp watermelon, and dark chocolate, and more recently, key lime pie. I also just got into v8 energy drinks thanks to my roommate, and I just ordered the limited edition watermelon flavor so I am excited to try that when it comes in (I think tomorrow).

Week 2 of Research Bootcamp - Universalism Rant

As we approach the close of this week, we are discussing universalism in science and reenacting skits to emphasize the importance of holding our colleagues accountable when they exhibit universalism (i.e. discriminating against scientists due to their notoriety and prestige) and truthfully I didn't realize how prevalent this is within science and academia. So many people don't take into consideration the socioeconomic barriers and the implicit biases in science that affect people's perception of who is valuable as a scientist. Of course, scientists are not immune to being racist, sexist, or even just inconsiderate of the institutionalized racism that continues to plague academia (and all industries), but hopefully more people hold one another accountable and challenge those preconceived notions. I've had my own experiences with not having access to certain universities, programs, opportunities and resources due to socioeconomic barriers, and I come from a position of privilege already given I am white and live in Rhode Island and my state university is relatively well-funded and does not carry the same historical background as HBCU's. Hopefully we can all recognize the many factors that affect what makes a scientist deemed worthy or prestigious and have social capital, and how this differs from the actual legitimacy of their work, their effort, or their value as a scientist and individual. I hadn't known before that this was a common problem throughout science, but I feel as though usually these biases take a more sinister form as covert infrastructural systems throughout science and higher education, as well as broader society in general. This is why creating spaces for people who are historically underrepresented, discriminated against, and generally just not encouraged by society to pursue a higher education in STEM fields is so important. It is also important as someone with privilege to hold individuals and the systems prevalent throughout society (not just science) responsible for maintaining these harmful ideas and barriers accountable. It's a privilege to be shocked by how prevalent I guess this is, and while of course this does come from privilege, I would also like to believe my prior lab and previous experiences, as well as my own personal beliefs and efforts to intentionally undermine these systems is what makes it so shocking that many scientists do perpetuate these harmful systems that maintain power for the privileged few.

Fun fact that I learned from this exercise:

Land grant institutions were established to increase opportunities to higher education and support an agriculture-based economy and were viewed as lesser than liberal arts colleges. This divide was then exacerbated and used to reinforce institutionalized racism when the Morrill Act of 1890 (Geiger, Finlay, Sorber, & Fairbanks, 2015) created separate land grant institutions for African Americans, and then subsequently the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 provided additional funding for land grant institutions but left the distribution of these funds to the states (Slanton, 2010) . As is consistent with the history of the United States, states chose to invest in white land grant institutions as opposed to Blank land grant institutions. This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the forgotten and overlooked history of how institutionalized racism came to be so ubiquitous and unchallenged throughout America. Likewise, many of the other values that provide white, straight, wealthy men with the resources and opportunities to succeed and achieve notoriety and prestige are rooted in history and thinly veiled as being attributable to exclusively effort or intelligence.

Contributed by C. R. C. Long. (2018). Universalism in STEM: Case Study & Analysis.

Branchaw, J. L., Butz, A. R., & Smith A. R. (2019). Entering Research (2nd edition). New York: Macmillan