Introducing Veronica Marie Padula
My scientific origin story begins during my junior year of high school. I always liked science, but it took doing poorly on an assignment in a biology class (it was about Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium) and having my teacher question whether or not I should be in the class for me to discover how awesome biology is. As a teenager, I took an "I'll show you" mentality and worked really hard to do well in that teacher's classroom (I may have had a bit of a sassy attitude as a teenager, I'm sure my parents could vouch for that!). Looking back on it now I think she used some seriously sneaky and successful reverse psychology on me to get my brain into gear. She had faith that I would do well, but she needed to provide that little push to make sure I would work for it. Biology became my favorite subject - I loved learning about the origins of life and evolution, the building blocks of organisms, the interconnectedness of all living things. She also became one of my favorite high school teachers because she opened up the world of biology to me. Funny how some teachers just know the magic words to inspire and motivate their students, and I'm lucky that she invested the time to get to know me and knew what it took for me to succeed.
Perhaps biology felt like a natural field of study because I thought I would become a doctor when I grew up. As I was graduating high school, I specifically wanted to become a forensic pathologist, mostly because I watched lots of crime shows with my mom (who doesn't love CSI or Law and Order?) and I was riveted by the things going on in the morgue. So I entered college thinking I would take the pre-med route, but chose Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology as my major because I thought it would be cool to do a study abroad in the rainforest or in the tropics. Mainly I was looking for adventure, and never really considered what I might be getting myself into. Little did I know that I'd find my life's passion outside in nature...
And here's the thing, I did not necessarily grow up "in nature". I grew up in a city in New Jersey, played indoor sports, and my main experience of the outdoors was going down the shore with my parents and hanging out on the beach or riding my bike with my dad along the boardwalk. I had never gone camping, never learned how to build a proper fire, never even seen a shooting star. So registering for a five-week field biology course at the Biosphere II in Arizona the summer after my freshman year of college meant I was taking a huge step out of my comfort zone. But I was ready to learn and experience new things, and boy did I learn and experience what seemed like a million new things in those short five weeks. I learned how to be out in nature - by the time the course ended I could hike many miles, pitch a tent, and pull cactus spines from my skin (I may have lost a battle with an agave cactus during one hike). I learned how to identify birds and reptiles and mammals and plants. I learned what an ecosystem was. I learned that humans were really good at altering landscapes. I learned what it meant to be a conservationist and environmentalist. And perhaps, most importantly, I learned that this was the type of work I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Oh, and I saw lots of shooting stars.
How did that lead me to birds though? During my last year of college I was a research intern for an organization called Wildlife Trust (now EcoHealth Alliance), and I assisted on a project examining the health and heavy metal exposure of Black-crowned Night Herons in the New York-New Jersey Harbor. Birds are fascinating, and I was instantly hooked on studying them, especially when thinking about birds' roles as environmental sentinels. Their health and well-being can tell us so much about what is happening in an ecosystem, and what could potentially be happening to the people in that ecosystem. I was also fortunate to be in the company of passionate scientists who cared deeply about their research and about the herons in the harbor, and took the time to teach me and prepare me for a career in this field. Their enthusiasm was infectious and motivated me to continue studying birds.
It was my mentor from Wildlife Trust who offered me an opportunity to work with seabirds in Alaska. Marbled murrelets to be exact. I was game for the adventure and the chance to learn about new ecosystems. I first worked in Alaska in 2007, and I essentially never left. I love Alaska, and the seabirds that call this place home. I feel a deep connection to and love for the marine environment in Alaska - especially the seabirds. They're pretty special creatures, and can tell us so much about what is happening in the marine ecosystems of Alaska. I also love the people I get to work with up here. I am fortunate to have an awesome graduate adviser who is seriously passionate about seabirds, who has taken many years to train and mentor me, and who sends me on amazing adventures around the state, especially in the Bering Sea. More about those adventures in a following lab note!
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