Hi, my name is Kara Eckley and I graduated from SPU in June 2019, with my BS in ecology. My goal is to get a job working in marine conservation – preferably one that involves a lot of diving! I am planning on going to grad school in several years, but for now I am just working on getting some experience in the field first. Right now, I’m in a three month program that combines a marine conservation internship with training to become a professional divemaster. I’m not necessarily planning to work as a divemaster but am instead using the program to get lots of experience diving and learning how to do research underwater! Sadly that was one thing I wasn’t able to learn at school. While at SPU, I tried to get as much experience in the topic as possible by choosing the classes I took, the research I did, and the even the topics of projects and papers when I could, to be involved in marine biology or conservation. I took classes like marine ecology, marine botany, conservation biology, and evolutionary ecology of the Galapagos, all of which are field classes, which have given me great experience in field work and research which will be a big help going into grad school, as well as applying for jobs. One of the most important choices I made was choosing my independent research topic and advisor. I worked with Dr. Ferrer because he has experience with marine ecology. I was able to take over a project from some students a couple years ahead of me studying the effects of salinity on sea anemone chemical signaling, and I was able to present my findings at both the Erickson and the Murdock Undergraduate Conferences.
If you’d like to talk about marine biology, ecology, conservation, or just generally need some advice let me know! I’m still sorting some of it out myself, but I am more than happy to share what I know. I am going to be out of the country for a while but am available for correspondence via email anytime, let’s talk ecology!