When I look back on my year with the Program for Local Adaptation to Climate Effects: Sea-Level Rise (PLACE: SLR), it’s amazing to see how much I’ve learned. As an incoming Science Policy Fellow with the National Academies Gulf Research Program, I chose PLACE: SLR as my host office despite having no previous experience with science extension or formal stakeholder engagement (the bread and butter of PLACE: SLR and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC)).
Coming in without this knowledge meant a steep learning curve, and I often felt like I was drinking out of a fire hose, desperate to soak up even a portion of the knowledge being shot my way. After a year, it’s impossible to deny how much I’ve learned and grown as a result of my time with PLACE: SLR and MASGC. Because I don’t have the time (or word count) to recount everything I’ve done and learned over the last year, I wanted to share just a few of my key takeaways.
Extension is many things, including the exact thing I was looking for
When I interviewed to work with PLACE: SLR, I sheepishly admitted I had no idea what “extension” was. Luckily, my inexperience wasn’t held against me, and I dove head-first into the world of extension. It didn’t take long for me to realize that extension went far beyond PLACE’s focus on sea-level rise (SLR). At our monthly MASGC meetings, I heard about marine debris, living shorelines, oyster aquaculture, fisheries and more. At my office at the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center, I heard extension agents talk about horticulture, timber and early childhood nutrition. Despite the differences in focus areas, I loved the common thread between all extension agents: a want to make science and research accessible and a commitment to engaging and sharing with those who could benefit.
As someone who left graduate school feeling like my research was inaccessible and not so impactful, extension ended up being the perfect fit. With extension, the impact and importance of my work is clear, a demonstrable link between our efforts and the incorporation of SLR into resilience planning. After a year, I’m still grateful my team took the chance on the person with no knowledge of extension and am happy to have found my place!
Find what motivates you
When I began my work with PLACE: SLR, I was enthusiastic about SLR resilience in a broad sense. My background is in marine and environmental science, so I understood the importance of the issue and the impact SLR could have on coastal communities. However, I didn’t have a sense for why our work was vital to the communities in the northern Gulf. That all changed within the first month of my fellowship when I had the opportunity to interview employees from the Jackson County Utility Authority (JCUA) in Mississippi as part of a project to assess the benefit of flood protection for a new wastewater treatment facility.
During the interviews, employees recounted the destruction Hurricane Katrina had wreaked on the Pascagoula facility. Despite the storm happening 16 years ago, the details were vivid: sewage overflows, weeks of non-stop work, setting up a makeshift command station at a battered picnic table, all while trying to repair their own damaged homes.
From that day, those interviews have served as a constant source of motivation. They provided the context for why this work matters in the northern Gulf and made me realize that I had the ability to help create a coast that is more resilient to the storms of tomorrow.
Networking, but better
Ask someone about the key to success in a workplace and they’ll often tell you, “networking.” This is no different in extension, but it goes far beyond a surface-level conversation at a conference or the exchange of a business card. What I found during my time working with PLACE: SLR and MASGC was a broad network of people that truly cared and looked out for one another.
After Hurricane Sally impacted coastal Alabama and Florida, our team organized a supply drive and went to help our colleagues in the Florida Panhandle clean up debris from their and their neighbors’ homes. When I lost power during Hurricane Zeta, my boss, Renee, was over the next morning with a cooler filled with ice to ensure I didn’t lose my perishables. With every storm that passed (and in 2020 there were MANY), I saw continual acts of kindness across my network.
When I started my fellowship, I knew I would have the opportunity to grow my professional network. What I didn’t realize was that the professional success of my colleagues is often the result of connections built outside of work hours; time spent looking out for one another and building a strong community.
In a few weeks I begin a new position with EcoAdapt, a non-profit specializing in climate change adaptation, where I will be able to apply the knowledge I’ve gained from PLACE: SLR and MASGC. Looking forward, I know I will always cherish the experiences and lessons learned throughout my fellowship and the role they have played in setting the stage for the rest of my career.
*Carey Schafer is a Science Policy Fellow with the National Academies Gulf Research Program. During her fellowship she was jointly hosted by the Program for Local Adaptation to Climate Effects: Sea-Level Rise (PLACE: SLR) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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