In this episode of the Fancy Scientist podcast, I interview scientist and blogger Charlotte Hacker. Charlotte is a Ph.D. candidate who uses non-invasive genetics through scat (poop) to study snow leopard populations in China. We talk all about her snow leopard research and journey to become a scientist.
This is a fantastic episode to listen to if you are an aspiring wildlife biologist or scientist! Charlotte talks about all of the pivots she had to make on her way to become a scientist. Learn how she bounced back from failing in her college courses and what she did when her Master’s research was cancelled THE moment she started graduate school.
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Specifically we talk about:
- Charlotte’s snow leopard research: What she is studying and how she uses scat to study snow leopards
- What snow leopards are eating and human-wildlife conflict
- Charlotte’s journey to become a scientist – what inspired her and how she bounced back from almost failing out of college
- The lack of role models for female scientists when we were growing up)
- How Charlotte was determined to study elephants, but ended up with research on snow leopards
- How Charlotte approached studying elephants for graduate school and her experience contacting professors
- What happened when Charlotte’s Master’s research immediately was taken away from her when she just arrived to start!
- Why Charlotte started blogging and that most of us scientists are more artsy than people think
- What Charlotte does as a side hustle
- Words of wisdom from Charlotte for aspiring wildlife biologists
Resources and Sources Mentioned in Charlotte Hacker Interview
For more on how science works and the availability of funding:
Using DNA to study elephants:
Cool Photos of Snow Leopards from eMammal:
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