Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Clemson University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am interested in exploring how organisms interact in the environment, especially in the face of disturbances – whether they are man-made or naturally occurring. For my M.S. degree, I looked at how and invasive plants influence Asian elephant habitat use in protected areas. For my Ph.D., I am looking at how resources, such as crops or forage plants such as grass, effects elephant movement patterns across the landscape.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is a typical day like for you?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  My days are generally one of two extremes. While I'm in the US, my workday is typically spent indoors at a computer conducting statistical analyses, writing scientific reports, or teaching undergraduate level classes. What I'm at my field site, I'm usually out in the wilds of Asia tracking elephants, collecting fecal DNA samples, or surveying the plants and other resources within elephant habitat.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  The best thing about being a scientist is I get to explore both the world around me, as well as whatever new interesting topics I encounter. I've been lucky enough to set foot into some of the most remote places in Asia where few Westerners ever travel. And I have been fortunate enough to have the freedom to dive into whichever new exciting research topic I come across in the course of my studies.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  Can you share a funny/interesting lab or field story?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  A coworker and I were participating in a field study trying to estimate an alligator population on island in Florida. One of the best ways to do this is to take a kayak out at night and use high-power flashlights to scan for glowing red alligator eyes around bodies of water. So we're in a double kayak on a small river going through a golf course and had counted by at least half a dozen gators around about that particular spot. We were almost three quarters of the way through our 8 mile route, but for the last few miles we had felt something bumping the kayak from underneath. It hadn't been very strong, not nearly hard enough to tip the kayak, but every time we turned on the flashlight to survey for alligator eyes, we would feel something running into the kayak from under the water that would stop once we turned the flashlight off. Both my coworker and I fancied ourselves as field-hardened, tough scientists. But at that spot, about 6 miles into our survey, just as my coworker turned off the flashlight she gave a loud scream and swore something had reached out of the water to touch her. She quickly turned light back on and shined it down into the water around the boat. Almost immediately mullet, a largish fish, began jumping out of the water towards the light, consequently hitting us (me squarely in the face on at least one occasion) and landing into the boat as they did. Once we recovered from the scare, we realized that a school of mullet must have been following the kayak, attracted by our flashlight. It took us a while to grab a hold of the three or four fish that had landed in our boat and toss them back into the water. I remember thinking that if only someone had seen us, surrounded by alligators generally considered- if somewhat falsely- to be very dangerous animals, shouting and failing about as we actually get attacked by fish frenzied by our flashlights, we would never have lived it down.

  
  
• Availability

  I am NOT available, please temporarily remove me from the available mentor list

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

The Glyphosate Gang Christie Sampson Apr 18, 2017

The best science advice as given (more or less) to me: testing hypotheses and theories is an essential part of doing science but it's when things go "wrong" that the most amazing discoveries can be made. Don't get discouraged…

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The best science advice as given (more or less) to me: testing hypotheses and theories is an essential part of doing science but it's when things go "wrong" that the most amazing discoveries can be made. Don't get discouraged if an experiment doesn't go as planned, that's when things get exciting. Science is one thing that connects us all and understanding how our planet sustains itself is incredibly important. 

GSLHS Team 3-6 Christie Sampson Apr 7, 2017

Why do you guys think the gelatin is slower to germinate? What kind of  consequences could slower germination have if these saeeds were out in the wild?

The Hub Christie Sampson Apr 6, 2017

Ok- so are you going to average how many germinated per treatment? Are you collecting any data about how healthy the plants look- do the peas that germinated next to lima beans look healthier than the peas that were in the control?