Research lab group or TA: Research lab group
Lab Narrative: In April 2003, a late cancellation gave me the opportunity to step in as an Invertebrate Field Researcher on the fairly newly minted Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I lived with another researcher in an RV in the Lower Calf Creek Campground that summer; we travelled, backpacked, and hiked all over the Monument collecting insects in order to get an idea and inventory of what was there. I made lots of friends, took kids on bug-collecting adventures, read lots of books from the Escalante Public Library, made calls home from the grocery store pay-phone, and I became obsessed with the landscape and wildlife. After that summer, I spent time in the lab sorting and labeling the insects we collected. I created a poster on the diversity of GSENM Buprestidae, and presented it at a few entomological conferences. At the time, there was a scorpion named Salvador in the lab that I helped look after.
I went on to receive my Master's in Environmental Humanities from the University of Utah, and now work for The Nature Conservancy in Utah, guiding education, outreach, and volunteer programs for the state. I live in Salt Lake City with my husband, dog, two cats, seven tarantulas, one scorpion, one centipede, one crab, ~12 pet cockroaches, and many fish.
Started in the lab: April 2003