Galen C.

Background

About Galen C.

I grew up hiking in the mountains of Western North Carolina, which inspired a life-long passion for natural history and environmental thought and action. This passion has led me to be a biologist studying pollinator ecology and conservation. Yes, I can tell you everything you'd ever want to know about bees! My dream is to use my science knowledge and background to shape the policies and programs we make that impact our environment. Though I completed a Ph.D, I would classify myself as a generalist in my science background. I have experience in working on projects across a number of fields including ecotoxicology while working for EAG Laboratories (now Eurofins) and molecular evolution, chemical ecology, community ecology, and disease ecology during my Ph.D. Through these projects, I gained skills in genetics/genomics, metabolomics, large data management, field ecology, specimen identification, data analysis, and coding (mostly R and bit of Python). Outside of my technical experience, one of my greatest strengths is relationship building. I am extremely people-oriented and engage easily with people of diverse backgrounds and varying levels of scientific knowledge. I found this through successful outreach events and networking including public presentations to large community groups, engagement with landowners/stakeholders during my field research, and strong research partnerships with mentees and collaborators. I enjoy working in positions with high levels of engagement and team-based settings where I can help build a productive synergy.