Friday, August 16, 2019: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
M104, Kentucky International Convention Center
Organizer:
Sarah Anderson
Co-organizers:
Anjali Kumar
and
Caroline E. Ridley
Moderator:
Sarah Anderson
Only about 0.5% to 15% of STEM graduate students (depending on specific field and sub-discipline) will follow in their adviser’s footsteps and pursue a career in the academy. Given that the unemployment rate for science and engineering PhDs hovers around 2%, the other 85% to 99% must go on and have careers, but where do they go? This organized oral session will begin to answer that question and illuminate the fascinating career journeys that ecologists have found within the nexus of science and policy—one of many potential career trajectories. Each talk will feature an ecologist’s unique career journey, extraordinary professional experiences, and provide a glimpse into what a day in the life of an ecologist is like. Talks will be kept shorter to facilitate discussion and to allow audience members to ask about experiences, training, and skills needed to succeed outside of the academy, and to get a better idea of how their skills as ecologist are useful in different professional settings. The session will conclude with an early-career ecologist synthesizing the many lessons learned from this professionally diverse group of ecologists and moderating a short discussion among the group. By presenting the diversity of career paths from the perspectives of early, mid, and later-career ecologists, this session will stretch the idea of what a career in ecology can look like.