What have they got in there, King Kong?
Picture this: a young me, eyes glued to the screen, heart pounding as “Jurassic Park” (the original, not the “World” series, mind you!) unfolded before my eyes. It was 1993, and while I wasn’t exactly living in the dinosaur era, it sure feels like a lifetime ago.
Dr. Alan Grant became my instant role model, and enrolled in an Earth Sciences undergraduate program at Lille, France, to dig up, one day, dinosaur bones just like him. There was just one tiny problem – it involved studying a lot of biology, a subject that, let’s just say, wasn’t my kind of cheese.
But life finds a way… and I found my true calling under the mentorship of the fantastic Professor Yves Fouquart. Swapping dinosaur bones for climate studies, I ventured into the world of environmental sciences, a field that led me to move to Grenoble to pursue on a Master with an focus on paleoclimatology, , the science of past climates.
Now, hold onto your butts because this is where the adventure truly begins, in 2005. Picture a 17-month expedition to the end of the world, Terre Adélie, Antarctica. An unforgettable experience at the end of the world, close to the home of Emperor Penguins and many other unique species.
Fast forward to 2008, I packed my bags and headed to Merced to start my doctorate in Environmental Systems. with a research focusing on atmospheric and snow chemistry at the WAIS-Divide ice-core campsite. When you gotta go, you gotta go…
After earning my doctorate, I decided to stay around as a lecturer in the Life and Environmental Sciences and the Chemistry & Biochemistry Departments, driven to support our community and to raise future environmental agents of change.
And here we are in 2023. I am now an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Life and Environmental Sciences Department at UC Merced. It’s been quite the journey from aspiring paleontologist to environmental scientist, and I can’t wait to see where this path leads next. So, whether you’re a student, a colleague, or a fellow dinosaur enthusiast, I look forward to sharing this exciting journey with you!
Dr. Alan Grant became my instant role model, and enrolled in an Earth Sciences undergraduate program at Lille, France, to dig up, one day, dinosaur bones just like him. There was just one tiny problem – it involved studying a lot of biology, a subject that, let’s just say, wasn’t my kind of cheese.
But life finds a way… and I found my true calling under the mentorship of the fantastic Professor Yves Fouquart. Swapping dinosaur bones for climate studies, I ventured into the world of environmental sciences, a field that led me to move to Grenoble to pursue on a Master with an focus on paleoclimatology, , the science of past climates.
Now, hold onto your butts because this is where the adventure truly begins, in 2005. Picture a 17-month expedition to the end of the world, Terre Adélie, Antarctica. An unforgettable experience at the end of the world, close to the home of Emperor Penguins and many other unique species.
Fast forward to 2008, I packed my bags and headed to Merced to start my doctorate in Environmental Systems. with a research focusing on atmospheric and snow chemistry at the WAIS-Divide ice-core campsite. When you gotta go, you gotta go…
After earning my doctorate, I decided to stay around as a lecturer in the Life and Environmental Sciences and the Chemistry & Biochemistry Departments, driven to support our community and to raise future environmental agents of change.
And here we are in 2023. I am now an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Life and Environmental Sciences Department at UC Merced. It’s been quite the journey from aspiring paleontologist to environmental scientist, and I can’t wait to see where this path leads next. So, whether you’re a student, a colleague, or a fellow dinosaur enthusiast, I look forward to sharing this exciting journey with you!