Emily Bernhardt’s Ecology Work

I’ve valued each faculty talk we’ve had the opportunity to hear during these seven-almost-eight weeks, but Emily Bernhardt’s talk stood out to me because it hits so close to home– literally! As a local, it was really cool to hear her speak about New Hope Creek, for example. Hearing her ask if the New Hope Creek was a source of greenhouse gas was eye-opening to me. I went to the creek many times on field trips in elementary school, usually for the ostensible purpose of teaching science, but I had never heard anyone else ponder such a thing. I also spend time at the North Carolina beaches every summer, usually going for multiple trips, so I was very interested in the work her lab does on drought and saltwater intrusion on the NC coast. It’s laudable that her lab is working towards building better models and networks of data, putting together the work of many publications to condense and create a robust understanding, like with the saltwater intrusion and sea level rise research coordination network that she mentioned.

In my mind I can still clearly see the photos from the presentation of Dr. Bernhardt working out in the field with labmates. I love molecular biology and think I will always return to a wetlab environment, but I would love to get some experience with field ecology at some point in my career. I could practically feel the joy and hard work and collaboration through the pictures of her knee-deep in marsh or up to her elbows in forest. Of course, it isn’t all joy and collaboration; she also mentioned being blacklisted from an environmental council by a business interest. Pardon my French, but I think that’s exceptionally badass. New goal unlocked: garner the hatred of corrupt political agents.

I appreciated that Dr. Bernhardt kept it real with us about the pressures of teaching and research and everything else that comes with a faculty position. She also encouraged us to explore many areas of STEM–something I think I needed to hear, because I want to keep searching for more opportunities to learn, broaden my horizons, and do cool things even though I’m already situated in a lab, without endangering my current lab position. Dr. Bernhardt showed us that this is possible!

Thanks for the inspiring talk, Dr. Bernhardt!