In 2015 I began working my first biology field job as a wildlife biologist/ fresh water ecology student for the University of Tasmania and HydroTasmania. I was nineteen at the time and since then I have worked many other jobs in the field but I still find that this position is still my stand out job. Here I answer FAQ I receive from both supervisors, peers, and other biology students.
What did you do in Australia? Working for UTAS as a wildlife biologist, I got the opportunity to work on a number of different projects. Some of the animals I worked with included platypuses, and Tasmanian devils. I was responsible for weighing them, collecting hair, whisker, fur, and faecal samples and performing dental and pelvic exams. As an aquatic biology student I collected water and core soil samples from various lakes around Tasmania. I then performed an isotopic analysis on the samples. How did you get your job in Australia? I moved to Australia after my second year of university, at that point I had just completed a basic biology course and some first year earth and ocean sciences, and I had only worked one biology-related job prior to this as a research assistant sorting invertebrate samples. It is safe to say I was not nearly as experienced as I am today. Basically, I really wanted to work as a research assistant at the University of Calgary during the summer because I was planning to head back home. So I looked on www.ratemyprofessors.com to see what students had thought about the biology or earth sciences professors. I grabbed some names and searched them up on the UofC website. I emailed two professors pouring my heart out about how badly I wanted to work as an ecologist and explained why I would make a good research assistant. Neither of them posted about wanting or needing a research assistant but I figured I might as well just go for it and hope for the best. The first professor to reply back to me ended up being my supervisor in Australia! My supervisor had previously taught at UofC while doing her Ph.D and then moved to Hobart, Australia to do her Post-doc at the University of Tasmania and said she could use an extra set of hands. I flew down to Australia 6 weeks later and began working as a wildlife biologist. Did you make a lot of money? Absolutely not. For the most part biology student tend not to make a lot of money while in school unless they're working for government organizations. Totally worth it though. Do you have any advice for young students? I'm in my last semester of my undergrad right now and I've learned my fair share of lessons, but I have three stand out pieces of advice. 1. Be Brave: Ask a professor if he/she needs a research assistant, volunteer with the grad student, apply for the scholarship. Don't hold yourself back because you don't have the perfect transcript, or you have no experience, just keep pushing through. 2. Don't Listen to Your Peers: I found people in my program to be my own worst enemies. I'm not talking about your close girlfriends, but a lot of peers are competing for the same jobs and are easily threatened because they're insecure and will try and bring you down. Do not listen to them. Just push through and keep applying. 3. Ask Questions. Ask people how they ended up where they are, ask your peers how they got their summer jobs, and ask supervisors how you can improve.
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Throughout my undergrad I've done my fair share of field work - from platypus trapping in Tasmania, to collecting ground squirrel poo in Kananaskis, to surveying weeds in Banff National Park. Most of my field work has been done in the summer for obvious reasons - plants have bolted, squirrels are out of hibernation, and the temperature is a bit warmer. No field work is same, and each has their own set of challenges. However, I noticed that I have a list of items I always reach for when heading out into the field, so I complied a list below. Note that this does not include any materials for research specifically but just personal items.
1. Bong Sweater Or any preferred sweater for that matter. Mine just happens to be my bong sweater. Mines thick and lined for fleece, and even in the summer I've never not used it. Even though the temperature maybe 30 degrees during the day, depending on the location that could change drastically. My bong sweater is also my sweater of choice for the field because I've gotten so much poo on it from various animals it doesn't reeaally matter what happens to it at this point, it just adds to the character. I would also recommend bringing another sweater not for the field but for after the day is done, you don't want to lounge, cook, sleep, etc. with a sweater covered in feces, dye, or urine! Also, if you're working with wildlife be sure to bring at least 2 field sweater and 2 lounging sweaters because this way you'll have a spare in case you get fleas. Believe me, it happens to everybody. 2. CAMERA You will never ever ever regret bringing your camera. I have a Cannon Rebel T3, and I bring it with me everywhere! You get cute pics for instagram, you can document your field work, and you have great photos for any posters or presentation. If you are not going to bring anything else, I would say bring this, and the sweater. 3. Reading Material I seriously cannot stress this enough. Even though you're doing field work for 8-12 hours you will always always always have lounge time, and there is nothing worse than being stuck doing bitch work because you have nothing better to do. Or sometimes, days in the field are slow and it's good to have some reading material. I recommend downloading some scientific papers on an Ipad, and books related to your study, but also casual reading material, for me this is anything about feminism or written by Mindy Kaling. For my squirrel supervisor, this was Harry Potter paired with all the audiobooks. 4. RECIPES When in the field you'll sometimes be stuck making dinner for 20 people. When I was living in the RB Miller Field station, every 3 weeks I was supposed to make dinner for everyone. Now for the average person this doesn't sound that terrible but it was honestly the worst part of being a field technician, and this is coming from someone who once had 33 flea bites all at once. Granted, I hated cooking and didn't know any recipes so I really caused this on myself. Luckily, I had the world's best supervisor in the world. My point is, most field work requires cooking so it wouldn't hurt to bring a few easy to make recipes or have a signatures easy dish. Don't try to impress everyone if you don't have too. Sometimes everyone is in the field for 15 hours and all you want is a hot meal. Now my go to meal to make is Mac N Peas (or whatever frozen/ canned veggie I can find. 5. Ipod/MP3 & Headphones. Now, I am in no way recommending listening to music while doing field work in dangerous areas but sometimes it's a great way to chill out after a long day or keep yourself awake at 4am. And honestly who doesn't need to dance it out after a really good or really crappy day? I usually load my ipod up with some sleepy time songs to put me to sleep after a long day or pump up running songs, along with my favourite podcasts: Dear Sugars & Tedtalks. During field work you're usually sharing a room with at least one other person so it's important to bring headphones. My brother sometimes brings a speaker if we're hiking alone to alert any wildlife, but that's very situational. DO NOT wear your headphones while conducting any field work or hiking as you cannot hear anyone trying to communicate with you and you can't hear anyone or anything around you. 6. Bug Spray/ Bug Net There is nothing worse that getting eaten alive by fleas, flies, or mosquitos when doing field work. It is extremely important to bring as much bug spray as possible. I am the bug spray queen. I don't want to hear anyone bringing that foo foo family or children's spray, we're scientists saving the planet we don't have time for that, I'm talking heavy duty deep woods spray. 7. HAT If you don't bring a hat you'll get overheated and sloppy with your field work. Bring a hat. 8. Water Pretty Self explanatory. 9. Personal Items This is really based on a person by person basis. For me its cocoa butter cream, and tea. I can't live without these items. Obviously these items are situational, so if you don't have electricity don't bring tea, but the choice it up to you. My golden rule is set a limit at two items. 10. Comfy Shoes A must. I bring my Birks and pair them with some very ~fashionable~ socks. Have an awesome time in the field!!! Here is a picture of the green bong sweater making its debut while trapping Tassie Devils in Tasmania, AUS. |
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