My graduate research story

 

The story of why I'm conducting this grad research goes back almost two decades. As an undergrad in 2002, one of the first publications I read discussed potential mountain climber impacts on moth-foraging grizzly bears in Glacier National Park, from Don White Jr's early 1990's PhD research. I was astounded by the paper. Grizzly bears climb mountains to eat moths? How cool! I thought. Little did I know, over the next 15 years I'd fall in love with climbing, learn the greater Glacier Park backcountry like the back of my hand, and gain a wealth of experience working with grizzly bears. Now, I'm building upon Don's research for my grad degree thanks to support from the Glacier National Park Conservancy, Two Bear Air, Jerry O’Neal Research Fellowship, and this crowdfunding campaign. I recently sat down with Experiment's David Lang to discuss my research and the journey I took to get here. Click on the link below to view excerpts of our conversation via Twitter:

 

Scientists will talk forever about *what* they're studying. I like asking *why* they got interested. Erik's response: pic.twitter.com/LJXdMTOqkQ 

— David Lang (@davidtlang) June 14, 2021