by Katherine Glover
Conceiving New Research
As a postdoc, I detect that a unmarried day’s to-do listing oftentimes visits past, nowadays as well as hereafter work. There is the projection yous are hired for as well as novel skills to learn, repackaging dissertation function for publication, as well as conceiving novel inquiry for grant proposals as well as task talks. This fourth dimension lastly year, I was immersed inwards my offset grant proposal to the National Geographic Society Early Career Program. This computer programme supports novel investigations, alongside a high proportion of the budget devoted to fieldwork expenses. Changes to the computer programme inwards the yesteryear few years stimulate got included expanded funding, as well as at that topographic point is instantly no historic menstruum restriction. Complementary programs, especially inwards Geography Education, tin back upward your outreach as well as external capacity ideas. Once funded, at that topographic point are extensive resources available inside the NGS community, including an online community, webinars, events for Explorers to showcase their function as well as network, affording valuable networking as well as inquiry opportunities. It was Nov when I received the goodness intelligence that I’d been funded, as well as saw these words on the attached contract for the offset time: “Principal Investigator”. So began the Kankakee Paleo Project (Fig. 1), an endeavour to meliorate sympathize Holocene environmental alter inwards northwestern Indiana. The Grand Kankakee Marsh (Fig. 2) i time sprawled over 2500 km2, as well as was i of the largest, most biodiverse wetlands inwards North America. Ancestors of Native Americans inwards the region, the Potawatomi, began living inwards this resource-rich part before long after H2O ice canvas retreat. Predictably, it was exploited during 19th century Euro-American settlement. Beaver, deer, muskrat, as well as waterfowl were hunted to ship out via rail, as well as the hardwood wood used for timber inwards Chicago. Finally, the meandering 400 km river was dredged as well as rerouted to only 150 km. When I saw the Kankakee at last, it indeed looked similar a large irrigation ditch.
Upper Midwestern paleo records stimulate got shown regional answer to Late Holocene events, such equally deep drought inwards the lead-up to the Little Ice Age [1]. However, the geographic extent of this response, as well as its touching on vegetation, is less understood. My computer programme was to accept 8-12 cores throughout the Kankakee watershed, a “site network” approach I stimulate got used earlier to sympathize climate alter as well as landscape answer across infinite as well as time.
Fieldwork planning began inwards January. Immediately, I confronted how much admin is inherent to the utilization of Principal Investigator (P.I.). There were academy procedures to clarify at every stage, hours spent on the phone, as well as budget reallocation. By spring, other details came together almost seamlessly. An eve recruitment trial for summertime fieldwork at the University of Maine led to i educatee alongside glowing references. An undergrad classmate of mine reconnected to speak paleo inquiry ideas for her student. A few videoconferences later, both were on board. I borrowed equipment as well as tools from my postdoc lab, as well as bought consumables.
The squad as well as landowners were enthusiastic at our offset site, prepare to come across a center come upward out of the ground. I imagine whatever P.I. wants that offset demonstration to recover something spectacular spell eager students facial expression on. This didn’t happen. Our offset center hitting resistance inwards nether one-half a meter. Black topsoil chop-chop coarsened downsection to an orange-brown, sugary sand. I shifted the squad to shallow marshlands the next day, hoping our equipment would recover longer sequences alongside organic deposits. Instead, the coring equipment got completely stuck. So began frustrated troubleshooting that carried over to the next day, including disassembling roughly parts, fighting suction, calls for help, as well as finally earthworks it out yesteryear mitt spell nearly submerged (Fig. 3).
Now nosotros knew that sand was likewise resistant, as well as the suction of the marsh muck likewise great. We tried to detect wetland sites that would stimulate got the correct “Goldilocks” combination of cohesive sediment. Even at to a greater extent than organic sites, nosotros couldn’t acquire by the sandy resistance. Aeolian islands developed inwards northwestern Indiana from 18,000 to 13,000 years agone BP after H2O ice canvas retreat, as well as the sand was genuinely everywhere: oxbow lakes, vernal pools inwards the forest, fifty-fifty the bed of erstwhile Beaver Lake, i time the largest natural lake inwards Indiana. It was only Day 3 when I questioned everything most projection design: had I chosen a plain expanse that but did non stimulate got continuous paleo records?
I decided we’d explore next watersheds. At last, nosotros had a solar daytime of proper coring at a pocket-size Nature Conservancy site. For the offset time, a piffling scrap of clay gave roughly cohesion, as well as nosotros got sequences over 1 meter (barely). I drove solo dorsum to Maine over 3 contemplative days. Postdoc fourth dimension is valuable, as well as I had precisely spent weeks – months, fifty-fifty – gathering as well as troubleshooting equipment, admin, budgeting, planning, driving. I had hoped for plenty cores to back upward educatee projects inwards the coming year. This wasn’t the supply on investment I’d expected.
Katherine Glover, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine
If yous stimulate got questions or comments concerning Katherine's post, delight acquire out a comment below, or ship her an email. You tin also follow her inquiry on Twitter.
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| Fig. 2: Location of the Grand Kankakee Marsh |
Fieldwork planning began inwards January. Immediately, I confronted how much admin is inherent to the utilization of Principal Investigator (P.I.). There were academy procedures to clarify at every stage, hours spent on the phone, as well as budget reallocation. By spring, other details came together almost seamlessly. An eve recruitment trial for summertime fieldwork at the University of Maine led to i educatee alongside glowing references. An undergrad classmate of mine reconnected to speak paleo inquiry ideas for her student. A few videoconferences later, both were on board. I borrowed equipment as well as tools from my postdoc lab, as well as bought consumables.
Fieldwork Realities
My intention was to function alongside an adaptable coring kit that would back upward drive-up, walk-in sites on farms as well as inwards marshes. We could comprehend a lot of Blue Planet this way, as well as attain the finish of 8-12 paleo records throughout the watershed that captured the lastly 5,000 years. We brought a Livingstone, which uses suction to take sediment i meter at a fourth dimension from marshes as well as lakes, as well as a Russian corer. Once inserted into the ground, the Russian arrangement carves out a sample of the surrounding sediment, as well as sticks it to a apartment metallic flap for retrieval. Both function best inwards fine-grained inorganic to somewhat organic sediment.The squad as well as landowners were enthusiastic at our offset site, prepare to come across a center come upward out of the ground. I imagine whatever P.I. wants that offset demonstration to recover something spectacular spell eager students facial expression on. This didn’t happen. Our offset center hitting resistance inwards nether one-half a meter. Black topsoil chop-chop coarsened downsection to an orange-brown, sugary sand. I shifted the squad to shallow marshlands the next day, hoping our equipment would recover longer sequences alongside organic deposits. Instead, the coring equipment got completely stuck. So began frustrated troubleshooting that carried over to the next day, including disassembling roughly parts, fighting suction, calls for help, as well as finally earthworks it out yesteryear mitt spell nearly submerged (Fig. 3).
Now nosotros knew that sand was likewise resistant, as well as the suction of the marsh muck likewise great. We tried to detect wetland sites that would stimulate got the correct “Goldilocks” combination of cohesive sediment. Even at to a greater extent than organic sites, nosotros couldn’t acquire by the sandy resistance. Aeolian islands developed inwards northwestern Indiana from 18,000 to 13,000 years agone BP after H2O ice canvas retreat, as well as the sand was genuinely everywhere: oxbow lakes, vernal pools inwards the forest, fifty-fifty the bed of erstwhile Beaver Lake, i time the largest natural lake inwards Indiana. It was only Day 3 when I questioned everything most projection design: had I chosen a plain expanse that but did non stimulate got continuous paleo records?
I decided we’d explore next watersheds. At last, nosotros had a solar daytime of proper coring at a pocket-size Nature Conservancy site. For the offset time, a piffling scrap of clay gave roughly cohesion, as well as nosotros got sequences over 1 meter (barely). I drove solo dorsum to Maine over 3 contemplative days. Postdoc fourth dimension is valuable, as well as I had precisely spent weeks – months, fifty-fifty – gathering as well as troubleshooting equipment, admin, budgeting, planning, driving. I had hoped for plenty cores to back upward educatee projects inwards the coming year. This wasn’t the supply on investment I’d expected.
Lessons Learned
I’m no stranger to fieldwork non going equally planned, as well as projects that alter radically from their offset conception. Every semester I teach, I charabanc students through adjusting their fieldwork plans as well as goals equally an integral component of the scientific process. However, beingness a P.I. introduced novel dynamics:1) Reframing circumstances equally a occupation to live solved, spell facilitating educatee success.
While these were skills I’ve for certain cultivated equally an educator, graduate student, as well as postdoc, major projection adjustments were oftentimes a protracted physical care for I grappled alongside inwards private. Now, equally a P.I. responsible for students as well as their ain rapid thesis as well as graduation timelines, at that topographic point but wasn’t the luxury of fourth dimension to deliberately weigh all choices, or nurse hurts from harsh feedback or a permit denied. In Indiana, this meant continuing to view sites I knew would live misfortunate for sediment coring, but ideal for the soil sampling necessary for a student’s capstone project.2) Reframing the projection to meliorate align alongside collaborators’ interests.
I saw my coring as well as paleo tape expertise equally something unique I could convey to a novel region. Yet to those local to the area, this sampling tin live perceived equally extractive. When results come upward years afterward as well as scientists motion institutions, nosotros adventure local follow-up but getting lost inwards the shuffle. As I function alongside stakeholders, other components of the projection resonate more: curriculum evolution on Kankakee history, efforts to brand historic maps digitally available, as well as soil sample results. Limited sediment to analyze inwards the lab agency to a greater extent than fourth dimension for projection components that students, educators, as well as other scientists are interested in, as well as stimulate got expertise in.3) Working alongside computer programme officers for the offset time.
From the fourth dimension my National Geographic grant was submitted, computer programme officers were available for feedback on balancing field, outreach, mentoring, as well as educational components of the project. Phone calls to speak through budget as well as projection changes helped immensely, if zero else other than hearing back upward for taking the adventure to deport fieldwork inwards a previously-unsampled region.4) Being exclusively responsible for the projection team.
While I’m well-practiced providing recommendations for students, this was my offset fourth dimension really making those requests myself, as well as calling upward recommenders equally I made decisions for the plain team. In the end, students exceeded expectations – they were talented, adaptable, as well as contributed their ain sampling as well as troubleshooting ideas. It made all the difference, as well as reinforced the view that nosotros are equally goodness equally the squad that surrounds us. I believe this to live truthful whatever our career stage.Katherine Glover, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine
If yous stimulate got questions or comments concerning Katherine's post, delight acquire out a comment below, or ship her an email. You tin also follow her inquiry on Twitter.
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References:
[1] Bird, B.W., Wilson, J.J., Gilhooly III, W.P., Steinman, B.A., Stamps, L., 2017. Midcontinental Native American population dynamics as well as belatedly Holocene hydroclimate extremes. Scientific Reports 7, 41628. DOI: 10.1038/srep41628.
[1] Bird, B.W., Wilson, J.J., Gilhooly III, W.P., Steinman, B.A., Stamps, L., 2017. Midcontinental Native American population dynamics as well as belatedly Holocene hydroclimate extremes. Scientific Reports 7, 41628. DOI: 10.1038/srep41628.