May 19, 2017
By Hannah O. Brown

Jenny Adler’s journey through graduate school has closely resembled the winding limestone caves of the Floridan Aquifer that she photographs from the inside out.

Adler is a doctoral student in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and her dissertation research straddles the nexus of the science, education and communication of conserving Florida’s springs—a path that took time to define and develop because of its innovative and interdisciplinary nature.

Adler first came to Florida in 2011 to pursue a job with United States Geological Survey tagging sturgeon for a research project on the Suwannee River. It was the combination of heat and sturgeon slime that made her first experiences of jumping into the Florida springs after fieldwork so sweet.

Read more about Jenny's Research.

January 3, 2016
By Hannah O. Brown

SNRE alumna Chelsey Campbell Crandall finished her doctoral dissertation in Fall 2016. We got a chance to ask Chelsey a few questions about her experience in the Interdisciplinary Ecology graduate degree program. Read on to learn about Chelsey’s research inspiration and future plans in the state.

Can you tell me a bit about your background? Where did you grow up? What brought you to academia?

I am originally from Tampa, Florida, though I have been in Gainesville for more than 12 years now. I knew for a long time that I wanted to be a marine biologist. I grew up spending summers at the beach, and we were always close to the water in one form or the other, be it the Bay or the Gulf, and I fell in love with the marine environment early on. And in all honesty, I think nature documentaries had a big influence on me too. Growing up watching Discovery Channel and Animal Planet got me super excited about animals and research, and I looked up to the scientists and researchers they would depict out there tagging sharks or tracking big cats or crocodiles or what have you.

Read more about Chelsea's Research.

Fall 2018

By Hannah O. Brown 

As far back as he can remember, Ummat Somjee has been fascinated with animals.

“I would be constantly playing with insects, bringing snakes home to my parents’ horror,” he remembers of his childhood.

Somjee is a SNRE doctoral student who will be graduating in Fall 2018 to take a competitive postdoctoral fellowship with Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

Somjee grew up traveling in Kenya alongside his father, who studied tribes in remote places of the country as a cultural anthropologist. In those early years, he had the opportunity to learn about both the diversity of animal life and the diversity of cultures in Kenya—a time that Somjee believes had a major influence on him.

Over the years, Somjee studied many different species: from hippos to puffins to rattlesnakes.

“I really had this deep passion for trying to understand animal behavior,” he said. “It was kind of obsessive. I was interested in everything.”

Read more about Ummat's research. 

Summer 2017
By Hannah O. Brown

Since Chris Wilson’s earliest research projects, he has focused on conducting science that can be applied.

His enthusiasm for applicable research dates back to his undergraduate thesis at New College of Florida where Wilson conducted an experiment on integrated pest management by planting rows of cabbage at increasing distances from a seed mixture of flowering plants and then measuring insect damage.

He joked: “To the endless amusement of my grandfather, when I told him I was growing flowers for my senior thesis.”

His undergraduate field project was kind of a flop, but Wilson was hooked on the possibilities of exploring how ecological theories could be applied to testing practical solutions for agricultural problems.

Read more about Chris's Research.

Spring 2018
By Hannah O. Brown

If you’ve met Karen Bailey, you’ve probably witnessed her giving back to those around her, whether it’s leading a meeting of colleagues or organizing an educational program for underserved students.

Bailey is a PhD candidate through SNRE, who is set to graduate in Spring 2018.

Originally from central Los Angeles, Bailey says she was accepted into Princeton as an undergraduate student because of luck—but again, if you know her, you know it had to be more than that.

Bailey is a leader in every sense of the word. As a master’s student in UF’s Dept. of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Bailey helped to found the Natural Resources Diversity Initiative, a student-led group that works weekly with local schools and organizations to expose a diverse audience to opportunities in the natural resource arena.

Read more about Karen's research.