Meet just some of our incredible women in science!
Transcript:
Christi Heun: So when I was a little kid, I really wanted to be Indiana Jones when I grew up. And then regrettably, my mom told me that was not a career option. So I went the next best thing, which is science. When I was a little kid, I also really liked hanging out outside, hanging out with the bugs and critters. And then I went to college not fully knowing what I wanted to do and I realized that you could study biology and you could be a research scientist. And I haven’t really looked back since.
Aimee Delach: I’ve been interested in science since about fourth grade, and it was really sparked by two things at once. I watched the series Cosmos on PBS with Carl Sagan, and I was absolutely mesmerized. About the same time, I had a really great fourth grade science teacher who really brought a lot of those same concepts I was hearing about to life. And I’ve been fascinated with science ever since.
Ragen Davey: From a very early age, we’re talking like toddler age, I had such an affinity for Polar Bears. Some kids wanted to be an astronaut, others a marine biologist, then there was five year old little Ragen who just wanted to save the Polar Bears. And while I grew and my interest grew, that spark never wavered.
Azalia Rodiguez: I first got started in science back in my early college days by taking a zoology course, and I think what really sparked my interest was the cause and effect analytical part of it and how wildlife and animals could show indication of how well our environment and our habitat are functioning or not functioning
Aimee Delach: I got my undergraduate degree in biology and a masters in plant ecology. And along the way, I realized that I wanted to work in conservation.
I started at Defenders as an intern in 1997, and I’ve been here ever since. I work to protect wildlife and habitats from the effects of climate change.
Christi Heun: I came from a background of research, science and wildlife biology. So I use that to inform how I understand a lot of the large projects that are happening here. I do a lot of reviews and I analyze the projects and I try to give informative and scientific feedback about where there could be problems with the analysis of staying made or what improvements could be done to plans that people are developing for development projects and these sorts of issues.
Azalia Rodiguez: My job is being the Texas representative for Defenders of Wildlife. And a lot of the things that I get to do is advocacy restoration and boots on the ground work in the Texas Hill country, which spans around 18 different counties. One of my favorite things that I’ve got to do while at Defenders is lead a lot of community-led organization projects like restoration work, because that to me is putting ownership back into the hands of the people that live here to ensure that this land and the habitat stay protected.
Ragen Davey: As I mentioned, I had an affinity for Polar Bears from a very early age, and being able to work on protecting their habitat is a pretty cool day job, if you ask me. Using my strong science background, I work with our team to push science based advocacy for all different, imperiled marine species.
Christi Heun: There’s lots of different ways to be involved in science. You can be a research scientist and you can work in a lab or you can be a field scientist and you can work out in the field doing things, or you can work in advocacy, which is what I’m currently doing, and where you can protect special places by letter writing and legal action and things like that. So there’s lots of different ways to get involved in science.
Defenders of Wildlife works on the ground, in the courts, and on Capitol Hill to protect and restore imperiled wildlife and habitats across North America.
