More and more women are getting involved in science-based careers historically dominated by men. Although women are still underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has a number of women scientists.

In honor of International  Women’s Day on March 8, we talked with three women research scientists at the DNR. Listen in as Stephanie Shaw, Jennifer Stenglein and Christine Anhalt-Depies discuss their work, experiences as researchers and their advice for other women interested in science-based careers.
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TRANSCRIPT
Announcer: [00:00:00] Welcome to Wisconsin DNRs Wild Wisconsin - Off The Record podcast, information straight from the source. 

Katie Grant: [00:00:12] Welcome back to another episode of Wild Wisconsin - Off The Record, I'm your host, DNRs digital media coordinator, Katie Grant. 

International Women's Day is March 8th. It's a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. International Women's Day has occurred for well over a century with the first gathering in 1911 which was supported by over a million people. The 2020 theme encourages us to work together to create a gender equal world. According to the UNESCO's Institute of Statistics, only about 30% of the world's scientific researchers are women.

Let's meet a few of them. 

Jennifer Stenglein: [00:00:51] Hi, I'm Jennifer Stenglein. 

Christine Anhalt-Depies: [00:00:53] Hi, I'm Christine Anhalt-Depies.

Stephanie Shaw: [00:00:55] Hi, I'm Stephanie Shaw. 

Katie Grant: [00:00:57] These three women all work for our Office of Applied Science. Sit back and listen in to our conversation about the obstacles faced by women in STEM fields, what inspired them to pursue a career in science and the advice that they have for girls who are interested in following a similar path.

Jennifer Stenglein: [00:01:14] All right, so I'm a research scientist, a quantitative wildlife research scientist, and my job is a couple of different things. Part of it is working on a statewide trail camera project called Snapshot Wisconsin, where we work with a bunch of volunteers to collect data for wildlife decision support. And the other part of my job is about deer and deer populations.

So we gather data statewide to become inputs into our population models and derive population estimates for each deer management unit of Wisconsin. And we work with wildlife management staff across the state, and they work with their County Deer Advisory Councils to help get that information out there.

Katie Grant: [00:02:00] Very cool. How about you, Christine? 

Christine Anhalt-Depies: [00:02:03] I am also a research scientist with the DNR and like Jen, I work on the Snapshot Wisconsin project. I'm the project coordinator. So that involves working with a whole team of people, including Jen, um, where we partner with the people of the state to monitor wildlife using this statewide network of trail cameras.

Stephanie Shaw: [00:02:23] So I'm a fisheries research scientist for the DNR. So very similar stuff to what the other ladies work on, except I am obviously fish oriented, kind of how, uh, um, Jen mentioned it or it's, um, quantitative population dynamics, I guess. So it's a lot of modeling. Um, and kind of looking at taking info from a lot of management assessments and really looking at how kind of aquatic ecology, um, harvest and different types of things kind of play out.

And trying to help kind of get our managers information on kind of the best things to do for their sport fish populations. 

Katie Grant: [00:02:59] Very cool. I feel like I, I'm not the smartest person in the room right now, surrounded by a lot of really smart women, which is super cool. What got each of you interested in a career in science and I guess, how old were you when you knew that this or something like it was what you wanted to do? Stephanie, let's start with you. 

Stephanie Shaw: [00:03:17] Um, you know, I always remember liking science as a little kid. I don't know that I recognize it as science, but I liked being outside and I liked, you know, typical tomboy, girly things like bugs and dirt and fish and animals. And, um, I guess I didn't really get into science until kind of school and later, you know, when you start to get formal classes and stuff. And I, though, they were always my favorite classes, you know, and um, that kind of continued through college. And, um, I guess eventually I ended up where I am, where I could do science and be outdoors and all that good stuff. So, yeah. 

Katie Grant: [00:03:53] And why fish? 

Stephanie Shaw: [00:03:55] Ah, interesting question. Um, I really like being on the water. I do fish, not so much anymore. Uh, cause I think about fish all the time and I think I kinda got into fisheries really. I don't know. Aquatic ecology was really interesting to me. I find it kind of fascinating because, you know, unlike maybe some other national resources, you can't really see what's going on.

It's kind of a mystery. So it's kinda cool to be able to kind of like dive in there and do sampling and kind of see what's going on underneath the water. And I don't know, I just think it's fascinating. 

Katie Grant: [00:04:27] That works. 

Stephanie Shaw: [00:04:28] Okay. 

Katie Grant: [00:04:28] Christine? How about you?

Christine Anhalt-Depies: [00:04:30] Like Stephanie, I've always been interested in wildlife and the outdoors from an early age.

Um, and I have a pretty specific memory where I was able to put a career to wildlife in the outdoors for the first time. Um, growing up I did a lot of camping and hiking and went on a vacation with my family to, uh, Badlands National Park. Uh, and there were a couple of women who were, uh, camping near us.

And doing a mark-recapture study on prairie dogs. And I had the opportunity to go out with them and help them with some of their fieldwork. Uh, one of the mornings when we camping and for the first time learned that there was this whole career path that you could do where you work with wildlife and you get to be outside.

And so I guess I'm one of those sort of unusual people who from the age of eight or nine, knew exactly what I wanted to do. And, um, ended up. Sticking with that career path for most of the most, most of my education. 

Katie Grant: [00:05:29] Very cool. 

Jennifer Stenglein: [00:05:30] Yeah. Similarly, I really enjoyed being outdoors as a kid, and we did camping and fishing and things outside, so that definitely helped me develop my interests.

I didn't know I wanted to be this, uh, a Ph.D. wildlife researcher when I grew up. I had a fantastic science teacher in high school who I'm still very good friends with, Kevin Hennis, and he, uh, allowed me to do an independent study on conservation. And gave me a whole bunch of books of.. Aldo Leopold.. was one.

I grew up in Ohio and so Aldo Leopold wasn't a regular part of the high school curriculum in Ohio, but I learned about ...