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I am an assistant professor of biology at Minnesota State University,
Moorhead and my Ph.D. is in evolutionary ecology. By studying evolution,
I don't always work on the same type of organisms in my research.
Currently, I have students working with dragonflies to determine
what drives sex ratios of adult populations and another group of
students learning to genotype liverworts to examine how natural
selection acts in nature. I was a high school biology teacher before
returning to school to complete a master's degree in environmental
biology. My master's research was conservation-based and focused
on restoration of habitat for a federally threatened madtom (a small
catfish). After completion of my MS, I taught in a community college
and later, worked as a stream fisheries biologist in Kansas and
as a fisheries biologist in Pennsylvania. The most exciting parts
of my career as a fisheries biologist and researcher were my travels
in other states in the US and other countries. I've worked in many
states in the midwestern, eastern and southern USA as well as in
Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Peru. I was a single
parent for eight years while I worked and/or attended graduate school.
Some of the toughest barriers I've faced came from working in a
male-dominated field (fisheries biology) and, unlike my colleagues,
working within the limitations of supporting a child. Now, I'm enjoying
life as a professor in a school where teaching is the first priority
and I can use my research as a teaching tool.
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