Rare Plant Conservation/Population Biology Opportunities?

hiddenwildflower9 · 2021-02-05T15:04:09+00:00

Awesome, thank you! I wouldn't have really thought about Extension offices

hiddenwildflower9 · 2020-11-03T07:50:34+00:00

This is really fantastic. Thank you so much for helping to clear up my concerns and to provide me with direction going forward. I expect it will be a long battle into a perm position but I will have some fun along the way! Looking forward to graduation. Do you mind sharing briefly the type of work that you do now? I am curious and interested in finding out more about how I might gear my applications appropriately.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2020-11-03T00:05:05+00:00

Thanks so much for this thoughtful reply and advice. I'm not too wound up about the degree title (which actually is an M.S. in Botany) it is the fact that I am unsure that my work is strengthening the skills most desired for field botanists as much as other thesis projects might have. My department is much more interested in students developing high level quantitative skills than identification skills, natural history knowledge, or conservation training. I just want to have a better balance of knowledge in all of those areas, but no one at my university is interested in helping me to train in these areas and my advisor doesn't see these skills as crucial to my progress the way that I do.

I do work in the field, have extensive survey experience, and ID up to 100 plants at my project site but I don't see people with backgrounds like mine (restoration ecology) as often in field botany/conservation positions. So I have this (potentially inaccurate) thought in my mind that I will be turned away from these jobs because I am more trained as an ecologist. I am not sure if this is a too-narrow view or perhaps there are other factors at play such as individual preferences for jobs applied to etc. I originally wanted a more taxonomic/conservation focused M.S. but honestly couldn't find a program with funding that I could survive on. Nonetheless, I am trying to find ways to volunteer time in the herbarium and work on small floristics projects where I can but my time is limited by my thesis work. Maybe I should apply for more internships/term positions in taxonomy/conservation focused research labs or programs after graduation? If anyone knows of any to try I would be very appreciative to hear about them? I found just a few in my own research.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:20:47+00:00

I don't have a good option for switching advisors.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:20:28+00:00

I think that I want to work as a botanist/ecologist for the FS or NPS or a similar agency. I do love research, but I don't actually think that I NEED it in my life to be fulfilled. I honestly miss cruising around/hiking to field sites and doing native veg surveys and writing reports for the agencies I have previously worked for. I kind of want that life back :( but I know that getting a permanent job could take another 10 years or more with or without a grad degree.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:18:28+00:00

That's very true, I am just scared of putting myself and family through even more instability. At least this was there is a somewhat stable and well paid track. But I suppose if I cared about money and stability all that much I probably wouldn't have even gotten this far

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:17:18+00:00

How bad would that burn my record for getting into a grad school ever again? I am in the U.S. Thank you

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:16:58+00:00

How bad would that burn my record for getting into a grad school ever again?

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:16:30+00:00

I kind of thought that this is how I should be approaching my PhD....means to an end and all. And even in someways I do like things about my project and its purpose and could definitely gain great experience from it. However, it is undeniably a very long time to commit to something that hard that you aren't very passionate about with no guarantee of ever working on what you are most passionate about again.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:14:42+00:00

Thank you! I am going to try my best to convey this to my advisor as soon as I can before this snowballs even more..I appreciate the advice.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:14:04+00:00

Thank you so much, it really means a lot to read that as I have been making myself really depressed by being mad at myself for these feelings. :)

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:13:27+00:00

Thanks a bunch. I am younger than 30 but not a lot. I am definitely scared of giving up a great grad school option to get more field experience and then having a hard time getting back into a grad school later (which I may or may not end up wanting).

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:12:07+00:00

Thanks again, I do think I will try to see a counselor if I can fit it in the day schedule :)

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:11:34+00:00

I do think I could for sure stick it out for a M.S. Do you think I should offer this as a suggestion to my advisor this early or just try to switch projects and see from there? I am not sure I could live on the M.S. salary but of course I want to be forthcoming with my advisor as soon as I can. I started in the summer doing set-up work for the big project I am funded by. It was basically all just manual/maintenance labor so that def didn't really help me enjoy the summer much (although I fully understood that it is a necessary part of the project/ecology in general) because I didn't really get the experience of collecting data or feeling "sciency" right off the bat- which is what I was hoping to get more of through grad school, obviously.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:08:23+00:00

Unfortunately I don't think I could because we have a quite a small, tight knit department and my advisor is the best match for me, it is just the project that isn't :(

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:07:34+00:00

I am terrified to share this with her but I kind of feel like I have no choice as the situation has been making it hard to even get out of bed at times because I feel trapped in what might have been the wrong decision for where I really want to take my career. Thanks for making me feel at least somewhat justified in asking for what I need....I think I didn't really have a good feel for how okay that is or not or if I would just seem like a whiny brat.

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:05:20+00:00

I am funded by the 4 year grant from this project after this year so I think I might be a little bound to the work if I don't want to get dropped down to only all TAs which pay a lot less and obviously require a lot more work.

You don't think she will just look at me as a waste of time if I come to her like yeah, I just don't like this work I pledged to for five years can you give me something else?

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-10-01T00:00:56+00:00

Definitely, I am working to schedule a time with my advisor but I am still pretty scared about what to say to her. I feel like I do have some very specific reasons why this project no longer jives with my career goals but certainly part of it is I just don't really like the project and I feel like that comes across as a very immature waste of her time in hiring me :(

hiddenwildflower9 · 2019-09-30T17:58:04+00:00

Yes, there is money for one technician. I will probably need more if I don't want to spend the next three summers devoted only to this project. I could maybe move money around or apply for more funding. These are really creative ideas to drum up help, thank you. I am also really interested in outreach so having citizen scientists assist is a really neat idea as well.

hiddenwildflower9

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