Real Resiliency Starts Here

Transcript

Okay everyone let’s head over to the beautiful Biscayne Bay campus across town. Nicole is waiting for us there near the kayak launch. She’s gonna share her work as a PhD student in aquatic and landscape ecology. Her love for all things water has led her to some pretty cool field research at FIU, which is a top three public university in the country for researching and educating students on life below water. Nicole, you are on.

Hello everyone, my name’s Nicole Strickland, I’m a fourth year PhD student here at Florida International University. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had an obsession with fish and anything related to the water. It’s kinda hard not to growing up in Michigan surrounded by the beautiful great lakes. Well, this curiosity developed into a passion drive for a quad biology. I always knew that I wanted to study environmental science, but didn’t know anyone close to me who was doing it as a career. When I was attending my undergraduate university, I was talking to a professor about applying to graduate school and he mentioned me a colleague who was conducting conservation and research in the Everglades. He even mentioned that they flew helicopters to remote sites. I told them I’m in and where do I apply? Here at FIU, I have the very special opportunity to work in the aquatic ecology lab. In our lab we study population and community dynamics and conduct monitoring studies throughout the Everglades through like data and information on how restoration affects different parts of the ecosystem. One program that benefits from our data is the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan or CERP, which is a major restoration initiative that is trying to restore historic water flow back into the Everglades. This program is one of the largest hydrologic restoration projects ever undertaken in the United States. I get amazing opportunity to travel to different sites using helicopters and air boats and conduct experiments in the middle of beautiful wetlands. Sometimes if you’re lucky you get to see an alligator too. If wading through wetlands isn’t for you, then that’s okay because FIU has a vast array of majors and graduate school programs ranging from biochemistry all the way to Marine biology. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing professors and had unique opportunities that I would not have anywhere else. I feel proud of all that I’ve accomplished here at FIU and look forward to all my future findings from my research. I hope my stories inspire others to not be afraid of putting themselves out there because you never know who you might inspire on your way of achieving your goals. Thanks for listening, now back to you Alex.

Nicole that was really cool. Wading through wetland sounds like tons of fun, and helping save the Everglades right in your own backyard is amazing, I can’t wait to read about your findings in the future thank you for sharing your story, take care Nicole.