Career Path of a Research Scientist at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Absolutely. I was one of the few kids in high school who always knew I wanted to study the environment. I knew I wanted to do science and policy and was passionate about protecting endangered species from the negative impacts of climate change. I thought I would go to law school after undergrad, so I picked a college with an environmental science and policy program.

I ended up in South Florida, attending school there with the idea that I would migrate to law school afterwards. That did not happen. I really loved the classes I took, and my interests were policy and science, not necessarily law. That's kind of where I learned there's a difference.

In college, my senior year, I interned at The Mosaic Company, a fertilizer company based in Florida. I was doing fieldwork, collecting water samples. In the summer in Florida, it's extremely hot, so I learned a lot and realized fieldwork wasn't for me.

That summer, I was preparing to graduate in December 2014 and had been accepted into the Peace Corps. Growing up, I had done Habitat for Humanity and worked with AmeriCorps students, and I said, "Oh my gosh, this is totally what I want to do after college, but on an international level." I was supposed to go three months after graduation to work in Mexico City with their environmental government agency.

Unfortunately, I had some unprecedented medical issues that prevented me from going, which really derailed my plans. I had to adapt. So I came back to New Jersey and got an accounting job at a business where I had previously worked summers and part-time. They had a position for me.

I was there for about nine months and then left to apply to graduate school. Not having planned that in my timeline, I thought, "Okay, well, we're going to switch things up now." I applied to grad school, got in, and started in September 2015 at Green Mountain College in an environmental studies program, focusing on conservation biology.

I did an internship for school with the Endangered Species Coalition, a short-term project. Then I started volunteering at a wildlife refuge in an animal hospital where I was eventually hired as a part-time educator working with wildlife ambassadors. I loved it so much I was eventually hired as the executive assistant to the director.

That was really cool because I was falling in love with the nonprofit sector and learning how to run a nature center, schedule employees, and understand how a nonprofit functions, including its challenges and barriers. I learned how to work with a board of directors and keep things running smoothly. Financials are a big challenge in the nonprofit sector, so I learned how to secure funding through grants and programs. I also learned about communicating with different teams.

I absolutely loved working in the nonprofit sector, but there aren't always financial opportunities. So I found a full-time job at the Department of Environmental Protection here in New Jersey at the end of 2016 and have been there ever since. I did stay on as a volunteer for the wildlife program, doing education with the ambassadors, just because I loved it so much. I finished my degree in 2018 while working full-time.

I started working in the recycling and hazardous waste management program, specifically electronic recycling, which is a huge global topic I knew nothing about. I quickly became a subject matter expert and became really interested in it. I did that for about five years and then moved into a different role as a research scientist working on transportation climate strategies, focusing mostly on electrification projects. I did that for about two years.

In March of this year, I recently accepted a position in our Bureau of Climate Change and Clean Energy. So that's where I'm at now.