Everyone everywhere has people to help them get where they are, but academics in PARTICULAR have this enormous list that is humbling and difficult to fit on one page. We've got teachers. So many of them, but usually a few in particular. We've got lab mates and peers, all of whom have thrown beers at us when we needed them. We've got departments, with goddess-like administration and cheerleading faculty. We've got funders, who give us resources in all faith that we'll do something useful with it.
Mentors and Supervisors
I can't even count the non-supervisor mentors. Jake Fisher and his whisky; John Volpe and his theory of everything; Brandon Bestelmeyer and his state-of-the-art desert tours; Loretta Battaglia and her swamp tales in a perfect deep southern accent; Steve Murphy and his generous, practical perspective on life and people; Tadashi Fukami and his patient reception of my pestery emails; Takehiro Sasaki and the karaoke that we will perform together someday; Zoe Lindo and the tiny little mite-rhinos we looked at together.
and on and on. But there are always the stars of the show. The supervisors. Their patience is endless and their support unfailing.
To Dr. Katharine Suding - you gave me a chance to develop from a student of restoration into a restoration scientist . For that, and for the insightful science that you communicate with every meeting, I will forever be grateful.
To Dr. Brian Starzomski - I will break your heart by never being a birder, but you have made me a better, smarter, more critical scientist and a wannabe natural historian.
To Dr. Rachel Standish - there is no one in this world to match your depth of thinking, your kindly critical eye, or your careful approach to ecology. You have made me slow down, articulate myself, and pay attention in a profoundly new way.
To Professor Richard Hobbs - I owe you so much, and I promise to pay it back at every pub we bump into and every project we keep starting up together.
To Dr. Michael Renton - There is no one else who would appreciate a prospective student who shows up to yoga in her pyjamas. My love of R, my delight in statistics, they are all due to your coffee-fueled tutelage.
To Dr. Mike Perring - my official unofficial supervisor. Every glass of wine made my thesis better. Your friendship made my Masters better.
To Dr. Steve Windhager and Dr. Mark Simmons - You guided my first introduction to the beauty of Texas. I won't ever forget working with you both, head in the grass and worrying about chiggers.
To Professor Sahotra Sarkar - you taught me to think objectively, to analyze my values and see them reflected in my science, to listen just a little more than I talk (still a work in progress). You also taught me to fear the effects of over-caffeinating....
and on and on. But there are always the stars of the show. The supervisors. Their patience is endless and their support unfailing.
To Dr. Katharine Suding - you gave me a chance to develop from a student of restoration into a restoration scientist . For that, and for the insightful science that you communicate with every meeting, I will forever be grateful.
To Dr. Brian Starzomski - I will break your heart by never being a birder, but you have made me a better, smarter, more critical scientist and a wannabe natural historian.
To Dr. Rachel Standish - there is no one in this world to match your depth of thinking, your kindly critical eye, or your careful approach to ecology. You have made me slow down, articulate myself, and pay attention in a profoundly new way.
To Professor Richard Hobbs - I owe you so much, and I promise to pay it back at every pub we bump into and every project we keep starting up together.
To Dr. Michael Renton - There is no one else who would appreciate a prospective student who shows up to yoga in her pyjamas. My love of R, my delight in statistics, they are all due to your coffee-fueled tutelage.
To Dr. Mike Perring - my official unofficial supervisor. Every glass of wine made my thesis better. Your friendship made my Masters better.
To Dr. Steve Windhager and Dr. Mark Simmons - You guided my first introduction to the beauty of Texas. I won't ever forget working with you both, head in the grass and worrying about chiggers.
To Professor Sahotra Sarkar - you taught me to think objectively, to analyze my values and see them reflected in my science, to listen just a little more than I talk (still a work in progress). You also taught me to fear the effects of over-caffeinating....
Groups. Of awesome, helpful people
The Suding lab! The only group of people I know that considers 12 hours of work and two hours of roller rink a 'retreat'. Did I mention the karaoke machine?
The Starzomskites. Yeah we are that cool.
The Ecosystem Restoration and Intervention Ecology (ERIE) Research Group
Sundowner by the river, anyone?
Sundowner by the river, anyone?
Departments and Universities
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Friends and Family
The first time I put together this page, I confess that I neglected the Friends and Family section. Not because they aren't important to my career, but because my friends and family are so entrenched in every success, so supportive in every failure, that it's impossible to capture how much gratitude and love I feel for them.
I have a husband who is my life-long partner in adventure. My mother gave me a love of learning and humors even my weirdest quirks. My father taught me I could conquer the world with hard work. I have a brother who brags about me and a sister who sends photos of my gorgeous little nephew. And my friends! My sisters Katie, Christine, Angela, Kate. You ladies are my pillars. My diving friends, climbing friends. The amazing support of our sailing parents (all dozen couples). My sanity is in all of your hands, and it couldn't be anywhere better. Certainly in my own hands would NOT be better....
I have a husband who is my life-long partner in adventure. My mother gave me a love of learning and humors even my weirdest quirks. My father taught me I could conquer the world with hard work. I have a brother who brags about me and a sister who sends photos of my gorgeous little nephew. And my friends! My sisters Katie, Christine, Angela, Kate. You ladies are my pillars. My diving friends, climbing friends. The amazing support of our sailing parents (all dozen couples). My sanity is in all of your hands, and it couldn't be anywhere better. Certainly in my own hands would NOT be better....