Thinking back to five fulfilling decades as a scientist and teacher, I marvel at how it all started. When the shadow of the Great Depression darkened mid-western prairies, my nature-loving parents lived sustainably off the land in northern Wisconsin and the Quetico Canoe Wilderness of Canada. I thrived on the sights and sounds of that pristine environment and quickly decided on an academic career in ecology.
Critical preparation elements along the journey included undergraduate years at Cornell University.I continued with graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, with a major in Zoology and a Ph.D. research thesis on daily activity rhythms of rodents. During my post-doctorate appointment at the Max-Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Erling, Germany, I was fortunate to be able to participate in a team research project on daily rhythms in humans.
From the beginning, my research career centered on chronobiology, the study of biological rhythms, emphasizing circadian (daily) activity rhythms of rodents, both under controlled laboratory conditions and at natural pristine field sites. Physiological studies examined the functional neural mechanism, while ecological and behavioral studies addressed the survival values. These neural pacemakers or “living clocks” impart an adaptive time structure to organisms. Sciurid (squirrel) rodents thus serve as vital experimental models, since their living clocks closely mirror the human circadian system. Study of rodent biological clocks holds out hope for understanding and correcting human chronobiology dysfunction such as jet lag, shift worker sleep problems and insomnia of the elderly.
Since 2006, I have volunteered as the Director of the W. Gordon Belser Arboretum at the University of South Carolina. The 10-acre woodland property, located in metropolitan Columbia, serves as an outdoor teaching facility for many environmental classes at the University of South Carolina. Initially, the site was a degraded woodlot, neglected since gifting in 1959 to USC, and ravaged subsequently by storms. In the decade of its restoration, attendance by students and the Columbia general public has risen dramatically from a few dozen per year to over 2000 visitors each year for the past three years.
Visitors to my laboratory and to the Belser Arboretum often ask me about my greatest accomplishments in these two aspects of my career. First and foremost has been the satisfaction of working with students, helping them shape their careers and interacting closely with them as assistants in my research laboratory. In terms of my research contributions, consider these to be my early circadian discoveries about the physiological mechanism of circadian “living clocks”; the 10-year restoration of the Belser Arboretum with help from student volunteers has also been a very rewarding experience for me.
What are the challenges of a career in science? The first challenge is the need to learn many new demanding techniques such as advanced computing, engineering skills or new languages. The second great challenge is time prioritization, particularly if marriage and a family come into consideration; I have found that efficiency and streamlining of life is necessary to keep up with a scientist husband and two lively, active children in addition to a demanding academic career.
Although the gender gap in many professions has improved, women are still under-represented in many fields, due primarily to energy limitations. Academic institutions usually provide a safe, supportive environment for their undergraduate and graduate students, with only the demand to study diligently and act responsibly. The great “career drop out” comes dramatically in the annual peer review at academic institutions and many other professions during the early years of a career. Women faculty are often unable to compete, or alternatively drop out to reduce near crushing combined work loads of home and job.
A few suggestions:
1. Keep healthy. An excellent book is Jeffrey Bland’s “The Disease Delusion.”
2. Acquire a senior academic mentor.
3. Form or join a career-oriented social group.
4. Take occasional vacation breaks or daily scenic walks to restore creativity.
5. Always remember the initial joy that sent you down your career track.