This post is part of our blog series The Unwritten Curriculum. Check out our posts in this series (How to apply to grad school, The grad student life, How to submit a paper, Demystifying the qualifying exams, How to do a remote postdoc, How to Apply for a Tenure-Track Faculty Job, and Paths to ecology I, II, and III).
Eloise Skinner is second-year postdoc who researches the transmission ecology of vector-borne diseases now and under future global change scenarios. Outside of science she’s mum to a busy toddler and spends most of her free time seeking live music, good wine and the great outdoors.
Aly Singleton is a first-year E-IPER doctoral student who researches the effect of anthropogenic change on underlying transmission networks in an effort to prevent widening disease disparities. Outside of science she loves exploring the world through backcountry travel, rollerblading, and live music events.
Q: How important was ecology and nature in your early life?
Eloise: Not so important – a part of my life certainly, but not centric to it (the disclaimer here being that I grew up in deserts in Saudi Arabia before moving back to Australia where I was born). Don’t get me wrong though! I really, really liked animals, and this definitely nudged me towards my career in ecology. But I really had no understanding of what I was getting myself into. Rather, when I told people “I wanted to be a zoologist when I grew up” I very much pictured that as being Steve Irwin.
Aly: Both of my parents grew up in the American West, resulting in many multiday family road trips from Evanston, IL to the mountains (a minimum two-day drive to get anywhere above the tree line). I haven’t often thought of this as informing my science, but seeing changing landscapes, communities, and wildlife across the United States is an extremely memorable part of my childhood. My familial experiences fed into my continued fascination with nature as I spent summertime at a sleepaway camp in Michigan, a fabulous program at which I eventually led backpacking and backcountry canoe trips for middle and high school students. Experiences mentoring young people in the outdoors are especially empowering for me and continue to motivate my belief that everyone should have the opportunity to develop a relationship with nature.
Q: What did you major in in undergrad, and how did it lay the foundation for grad school in ecology? Did you consider other paths?
Eloise: I studied a Bachelor of Science majoring in Ecology and Zoology. The degree was fantastic, but when I graduated it took me a long time to make the connections between my education and how to carve out a career. When you step away from academia, the career paths in ecology can seem unclear. I spent six years between graduating with my BSc before starting my PhD, and in that time I worked in many different jobs – as a vet nurse, as a research assistant, in hospitality, as a coach, in marketing (you get the point). Often this felt like a backward step, but when I started my PhD each of those jobs added knowledge, skills and understanding to my research. When I look at options for my career path now, I think a lot less about what I want to “be”, or what jobs I want to “do”, but more about what skills I want to gain.
Aly: I majored in Applied Math, which at first glance might not read as a natural first step towards becoming an ecologist. In general terms, my most intrinsic interest has always been in how populations can be greater than the sum of their individuals. The study of synergies and non-linear dynamics falls beautifully between the disciplines of applied mathematics and disease ecology. I happened upon these intersections as a sophomore undergraduate when I was serendipitously swept up into a HIV mathematical modeling group with the People, Place & Health Collective at the Brown University School of Public Health. Working with the Collective was so organically captivating for me, especially in how meticulously they approached trying to make sense of the world for the benefit of population health. From early on it was pretty difficult for me to think of other topics better suited to my interests and values. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been connected with them so early.
Q: What or who convinced you to go to grad school to pursue a career in Ecology?
Eloise: I don’t think I can say that there was a single person or event that convinced me to go to grad school. I had a deep-rooted interest in science and ecology, and truth be told it wasn’t luck that got me through the many years of education – there were definitely moments that I really only scraped through – what got me through was the sheer belief from family, friends and my community that if I wanted to be a scientist, I could be. I am really grateful that I had that support network but am also acutely aware that it is a privilege to have a community that believes in you. Your path to ecology will likely look different to mine, but however you get there I hope you snowball your community as you move through it.
Aly: I’m so grateful to my mentors at the People, Place & Health Collective for the guidance they provided me as a young scientist, including honors thesis support, contagious curiosity, and visibility on research careers. After a fifth-year masters in Biostatistics, I spent a year doing public research at the CDC before entering a doctoral program. I considered continuing into public and/or industry research but decided the E-IPER (Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources) doctoral program was the ideal opportunity for me to develop expertise around my interdisciplinary interests. In the end, I was convinced that leading research on the impact of climate instability on infectious disease dynamics would be difficult to do in any situation outside of a doctoral program. The relative nascency of the field, especially as it intersects with epidemiology and computational techniques, combined with my belief that interdisciplinary solutions are sorely needed in climate and health challenges were the final factors in my decision to join E-IPER and Dr. Mordecai’s lab.