I am an assistant professor and aquatic ecologist at Radford University in southwest Virginia. My journey to Radford was by no means direct!
I grew up in a small Indiana town surrounded by "mostly" natural streams, row crop agriculture, and animals of all kinds... cats, dogs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, bunnies, iguanas, birds, etc. My parents taught me to do the things you like, which will be your compass to what you were meant to do. As a small child (and with my rural neighbor friends) I played detective, built rafts out of drift wood, snorkeled in the "crick", and collected evidence in the forest. Not quite sure what the evidence was meant to support at the time, but I am certain that my imagination lead to my ecological identity. Middle and high school was spent playing softball, listening to new CDs on the phone with my friends, and doing the school thing. Plug for high school science with mi mum and Mr. Ashburn - we measured the bacterial density growth on hamburgers as the burgers rested over time: home cooked, McDonald's, and Clancy's. Yup - completed everything about the study correctly except for developing a hypothesis! I won the senior Life Science award anyway... :) |
College brought me love, friends galore, beer, art history, anthropology, and theology! While my biology major friends went to Belize for their study abroad trip, I had the privilege to study "Dante in the Age of Petrarch" as an English/History course for one month in Florence and Rome, Italy. There I learned the nuances of the written word, the influence behind Dante's Inferno, and the rich history of Italy. I spent most of my time in the museums, soaking in the inspiration from the artists that I studied in my many art history courses. Although my compass veered me away from the sciences for a bit, my scientifically-minded family kept me mostly on a "nature" journey. Hanover College taught me how to write and support a thesis with both qualitative and quantitative evidence. I earned a Bachelors of Arts (BA) in Biology.
Graduate school introduced me to fish (later insects), weekly meals (and dinner competitions) with friends, the LGBTQ+ community, pedagogy, Mandarin, Australia, and the biology of lung cancer! I did not have a traditional graduate school experience. I began by taking a few courses "for fun": Organic Chemistry and Human Anatomy. Then, I took courses in fisheries, where I realized that I needed to be a stream ecologist. My mentor (Dr. Thomas E. Lauer) showed me the ways of backpack electrofishing in the channelized and natural streams of East Central Indiana. When my summer research days were over, I interned at the Ohio River Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO). The fish in the Ohio River are out-of-this world exciting. While working at ORSANCO, I learned how to navigate a boat at 3:00 AM using only a GPS and spotlight, all while avoiding the silently creeping, "two-eyed" barges. I learned that boat electrofishing is a thing and sight-identifying species in the field is doable!
At the height of my Master's thesis writing, Tom says to me, "Jamie, I'm going to be the director of the Australia study abroad trip. Either come with me or you're on your own for your thesis." After some finagling, and with a generous donation from my parents, off I went to Lennox Head, New South Wales, Australia. I spent four months traveling the coast and taking English and Australian culture courses from professors at Southern Cross University. I read novels about a serial killer in Perth and one about a man in search of his missing parents in Shanghai. I met a platypus in the wild after sitting patiently and silently for hours near a stream. Each day I read the local newspaper, ate at Fishy Fishy, and learned about cultures unlike those I had ever met. Although I learned how to drive on the left side of the road and fell madly in love with round-a-bouts, I never quite mastered the didgeridoo or boomerang. As for the thesis, I successfully finished on those white, sandy beaches! I met my one-great-true-love, Heidi, as she was visiting a mutual friend at ORSANCO. My compass led me to her and the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, West Virginia. I was able to take this detour because I was in the writing phase of my dissertation (yes, we fast-forwarded a lot). I was dubbed a "pipetting monkey" by my boss, Dr. Piyali Dasgupta. I learned the techniques involved with tissue culture, PCR, bacterial transformation, performing studies using mice models, and mostly importantly communicating science in a vastly different field of study! I honed my skills in precision and accuracy, while learning on the molecular scale. When the grant finished at Marshall, I returned to Ball State to finish my PhD. Overall, the faculty in the Biology Department at Ball State University taught me how to teach with a clear objective. Graduate school provided me an opportunity to teach undergraduates for the first time. My program also allowed me to take courses in pedagogy (e.g., Ethnographic Research in Education, Multicultural and Multiethnic Education, Comparative Education) to train me further in the nuances of higher education. Thus, my compass led me to what I was meant to do. Tom wisely said to me, "Jamie, you have to tell students what you are going to teach them, teach them, then assess them on how you taught them." In other words, be clear, show students what you want, and then assess them on what you've shown them. He also showed me that your master's program is dedicated to learning how to do research, while your PhD is dedicated to proving that you can independently do research. My dissertation taught me patience, diligence, and resilience. For those of you who pursue a PhD, form a community of writers because the writing process can be isolating! I earned a Master's of Science (MS) in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries Management, as well as a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Environmental Science (a feat that was only accomplished by the coaching and support of Heidi and Ish Cake, our soul-eating cat). |
Adventures on the Ohio River: Quillback (top left), paddlefish (top right), long nose gar (middle), short nose gar (bottom).
The walls of the Nimbin Museum was painted in colorful, Salvador Dali-like imagery that took the visitor through the history of the city - from Aboriginal to an "alternative" society with sustainable environmental practices. Image taken by J.K. Lau.
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I landed my first real job as a lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU). I was over research by the time I finished my PhD, and a strictly teaching position was precisely what I needed! At EKU, I learned about the hierarchy of higher education, and I honed my skills in teaching majors and non-majors. I met my teaching mentor Dr. Amy Braccia, an aquatic entomologist, pretty early at EKU. She unintentionally made me a little jealous that she could teach and do research! She often invited me to research trips, but I was always teaching. She is the reason why I made my way to Radford University. She forwarded me a job advertisement for my position at Radford and said that I should apply because she loved the area!
So, why did I go into such detail to describe my journey to Radford? 1) I enjoy reminiscing about my adventures; 2) to show that many individuals mentored me along the way (many more mentor me at Radford); and 3) to demonstrate how my journey helped me develop a strong, interdisciplinary-mindset through which I teach students at Radford. Although I am a scientist by training, the humanities and arts drive my sprit as a faculty member in higher education!
Enjoy perusing my site to discover how I engage students in all "the things"...
Any green text indicates a link to help your trip down the rabbit hole of websites!
So, why did I go into such detail to describe my journey to Radford? 1) I enjoy reminiscing about my adventures; 2) to show that many individuals mentored me along the way (many more mentor me at Radford); and 3) to demonstrate how my journey helped me develop a strong, interdisciplinary-mindset through which I teach students at Radford. Although I am a scientist by training, the humanities and arts drive my sprit as a faculty member in higher education!
Enjoy perusing my site to discover how I engage students in all "the things"...
Any green text indicates a link to help your trip down the rabbit hole of websites!