We asked Isadora, a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Ecology (IEC) program at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, to share highlights from her time at the University of Florida. Isadora reflected on her unique experiences and offered helpful advice for both incoming and current students.
From Isadora:
“Throughout my PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology at SNRE, I have had the opportunity to explore questions that connect individuals, populations, and communities across broad ecological scales. My research focused on intraspecific trait variation, which examines how individuals within the same species differ from one another, and why this variation matters for understanding global biodiversity patterns.
Studying individual-level diversity over nearly five years taught me that broad patterns and outcomes can be determined by how individuals interact with their local environments, whether in nature or in graduate school. Just as salamander traits reflect interactions with their microhabitats, my PhD was shaped by everyday conversations with mentors and peers who helped me untangle confusing results and make sense of the bigger picture. Learning from people working on many different systems allowed me to see my work from new perspectives and be creative in developing my own ideas. That combination of openness, interdisciplinary exchange, and grounding in natural history is what I love most about SNRE.
If I can offer one piece of advice to current and future students, it would be to embrace the interdisciplinary nature of SNRE and stay curious beyond the boundaries of your main project. Talk to people, ask questions, send emails… do not be afraid of reaching out! At the same time, trust that your trajectory does not need to look like anyone else’s. Time is relative, not only in physics, but also for individuals moving through life along different paths. Growth during graduate school comes from far more than publication numbers. It includes learning how you think, how you collaborate, how you teach, and the kind of scientist you want to become.
I left home and my daily life with my family to pursue the best education possible, like many other international students at UF. In the beginning, we may feel both excited and overwhelmed, and there may be moments when we wish we were already familiar with everything around us. Over time, however, I realized that the different perspectives, life experiences, and ways of seeing the world that international students bring are not weaknesses, but among our greatest strengths. To our luck, in the same way that SNRE invites us to embrace ecology in all its interdisciplinary richness, it also values the diverse backgrounds we bring.
After graduating, I will continue in academia through a postdoctoral position where I can keep studying biodiversity patterns, trait variation, and the ecological processes that shape life across scales. More than anything, I hope to carry forward the kindness, support, and sense of belonging I received here, and let those values be part of the work I do and the communities I join wherever I go.”
Isadora will be starting her new post-doc position in August at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the Department of Entomology. She will be studying primarily beetles at UW-Madison.
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