clhom@ucdavis.edu
voices
 Adrianna at the Media Workshop. |
"My parents now support my decision to come to UC Davis, but that wasn't
always
the case ... Most people in New York City have never heard of UC Davis, let
alone know that it has one of the best ecology grad programs. `Why not go
to Columbia or Yale for the next six years,' they ask. But after learning of
UC Davis's reputation in ecology, the presence of the IGERT,
and understanding my priorities as a grad student, my parents came around full circle". -- Adrianna Muir, graduate student in ecology and NSF Predoctoral Fellow |
| "As a scientist,
I've always been aware of the need for my work to be relevant. I mean,
one can discover the key to saving the world, but it will mean bupkiss
without being able to interact with policy makers, industry, and the
public. As an IGERT student, I've been forced to work outside of my
comfort zones as a scientist, both as an intern specializing in invasive
species issues for the National Marine Sanctuaries program and as
a documentarian, exploring the social issues surrounding invasive
species control. While I'm still a dyed-in-the-wool ecologist, how
I communicate and focus my work has changed radically. " -- Jarrett Byrnes, graduate student in population biology |
Jarrett and his trusty field assistant. |
 Suzanne filming at Portola while making an environmental documentary as part of the 2002 cohort's collaborative project |
"One of the biggest lessons learned from [our collaborative] project: Listening.
Drop your own position long enough to open up to someone else's perspectives
in a genuine way. Take some time to understand why they hold their
views. Find some common ground from which you can then work together....
It wasn't easy, but all this came with a very big payoff. We made
connections and had positive experiences. We shared ideas and built
relationships, both within our group and in the wider community...
. this project has taken us a long way toward the goal of training
us to go beyond our own disciplines, build bridges, and work together
with people outside of our own areas of expertise to understand problems
and strive to achieve better solutions together." -- Suzanne Olyarnik, graduate student in population biology and NSF Predoctoral Fellow |
| "The chance to participate
in an interdisciplinary project will give you experiences and skills you would
never otherwise develop. You can't do an interdisciplinary project sitting
at your desk or counting butterflies. You will talk to people, both on campus but
whom you'd never generally interact with, and out in the real world,
people who will be directly affected by the sorts of decisions we as
"environmental scholars" make or will someday make. " -- Sarah Elmendorf, graduate student in ecology and NSF Predoctoral Fellow. |
Sarah finds that, unlike lobsters, plants are not reliable field assistants. |