There is no doubt when it comes to research careers that an education is required. But what does that education look like? Most people think of hours spent in a lecture or studying hundreds of lists of terminology. This is what is often referred to as a “surplus-deficit” teaching model where the student has a deficit of information and the professor has a surplus to give the student. Though this is important, there is more to education than this…
As a wildlife and conservation biology major aspiring to be a wildlife biologist, my education is lots of hands-on experience with some traditional surplus-deficit as well. This looks like a mix of classroom lectures and outdoor labs where we can apply the principles we learn. One of my favorite classes was NR 527 Forest Ecology which was taught by Mike Simmons. In our outdoor labs, he took us through the woods as he showed us how the forest ecosystem interacts, how to understand the history of the forest, and how to conduct measurements. My favorite part of the class was the way that he taught. As we walked, he would stop to point out things that caught his eye like elf cup fungi (teal colored wood with tiny mushrooms) or moss peeking out from the snow (moss can continue to photosynthesize under snow in winter) or mycorrhizae fungi (a fungi that has a symbiotic relationship with the trees but was too small to see). He did not test us on the random facts he shared but instead taught us to examine the things we found and come up with questions. I realized after this class that I had learned and retained so much information because I had been able to explore in a low stress environment where my focus was on listening, learning, and following my curiosity.
This is where research comes in. You cannot fully know something until you have explored it, and exploration is research. It is one thing to know something on paper, and a whole other thing to see it unfold in real life. In my own experience this past winter, I read in a book that porcupines snip off branches in trees, eat the buds, then drop the branches. This was just information floating in my head until I was on a walk in the snow with my uncle and he pointed up. I looked up to see a porcupine sleeping above me and when I looked back down, I saw the branches that he had nipped lying on the ground. The dots had been connected because I had experienced the information.
As a kid, I used to do a lot of research in my free time. This looked like running around my backyard and finding plants, bugs, and scat, or following deer trails. In college, this research looks the same but just in new places. Sometimes I would write down or draw the things I found or would keep count of the animals that passed through my yard. If something caught my eye that I didn’t understand, I would try to find the answer through observations first then through other people or resources. This is actually a natural history observation practice, the original form of wildlife biology before imperialized research. Making observations and exploring was a low-stress research process that prepared me for more official research in the Research Experience and Apprenticeship Program (REAP). As I hiked to research sites, I could find the deer trails that gave me the clearest path or could find scat or tracks that indicated what animals were present in the area. As I worked, I was able to explore some of the concepts taught in class and to see them in real life which cemented the knowledge. Exploring prepared me to be more observant and to ask more questions to grow in my knowledge and prepare me for a career in wildlife biology.
Research is education. You take what you already know, you explore what you don’t, and you learn even more through that exploration. I encourage you to try to look for opportunities for research because that is where knowledge becomes experience, and that will stick with you through your career. Without the experience, all the information just stays floating up in your head until you finally apply it. Apply for a semester-long experience like INCO 590, or full-time summer research through REAP or a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). Or simply look for a professor who is hiring research assistants for their lab. I am working for Professor Remington Moll for a second summer with his research team. UNH has so much to offer so don’t miss out!
