Student Profile
Emily Nauman
Since graduating from Miami in May 2007, I have had quite a summer and have begun a very unique career involving my BATSC degree. In June, I made my way out to Cambridge, Maryland to intern with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). I spent the summer working as a Science Communication intern for the university’s Integration and Application Network (IAN). IAN works to integrate and synthesize research that is being done on the Chesapeake Bay. They work with scientists and management to create a happy medium between the two and to create documents that can easily be understood by the public. The health of the Bay is a very important issue in Maryland and in the surrounding states and producing documents that can educate and persuade the public to make sustainable decisions is crucial to the Bay’s recovery.
I enjoyed my work so much that I decided to interview for a position with IAN as a full time Science Communicator with NOAA and the University of Maryland at the Cooperative Oxford Lab in nearby Oxford, Maryland. I’m very happy to report that I ended up being offered the position and am now working for IAN full time. My projects include helping to write and design graphics for an assessment handbook that will help to explain the process of coastal assessment, writing newsletters, and creating conceptual diagrams using IAN’s symbol system. The IAN communication methodology is very innovative and includes using visuals to simplify and clarify the information.
Other responsibilities and benefits of my science communication position include fieldwork, class work, and meetings. I was very lucky to be asked to help out with fieldwork involving oysters this summer. I even learned how to dissect oysters in order to use their tissues to determine how well they would work as an isotope indicator. Also, because I work for U of M, I have the ability to take graduate courses. With the permission (and persuasion) of my boss, I decided to take an environmental science overview graduate course this semester. Finally, another advantage of working where I work is the amazing networking capability I have. I have been asked to attend several meetings this year with some of the top environmental scientists and managers in the area. Yesterday, I went to a meeting at the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office with some of NOAA’s top communication specialists. It was very exciting.
The skills I developed throughout my education as a BATSC major have helped me to become very adaptable and have given me the ability to work as a tool for scientists to connect to the public. Every day, I use my design and editing skills to produce documents that help people to think about the natural world around them and how they are affecting it. This degree has allowed me to have amazing experiences working for the United States EPA in Cincinnati, the Hefner Zoology Museum at Miami, and now this job in Maryland. My degree has also helped me to get into law school, if I choose to go that route. I am very grateful for the unique and applicable education I received as a BATSC major at Miami University and I will always treasure the knowledge I have gained from it. I would definitely recommend the BATSC and MTSC programs to anyone who is a strong communicator and who is interested in science. It is definitely a skill that many companies and organizations seem to be looking for.