How We Got Here

Steph and Rachel have been busy this summer. But not too busy to start recording new episodes.

Hear them check in, catch up, and look forward to the new podcast season.

Outro: Wet Ass Planet - Hila the Killa

Hear ye, hear ye! We know everything about the academic job search!

Psych. On this episode of How We Got Here, we talk about the perils, pitfalls, page-length-of-cover letters, and all of the mysterious wonders that comprise the job search for a professorship. Rachel talks about her failures and successes in the most recent #jobseason, while Steph provides crucial insight from the point of view of a search committee member. Application materials, first and second round interviewing, negotiations… Denmark does everything better (?!)… we cover it all!

Listener questions guide this episode but NO. We CANNOT answer the question: What am I doing with my life?! Sorry. We don’t know either.

Resources:

The negotiating page from the Professor is In

An updated blog post on negotiating during covid times

Chronicle of Higher Education Salary Data

Environmental Jobs Salary Transparency Database

ALERT! YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A POLICY MAJOR TO END UP IN POLICY. WE REPEAT. SCIENTISTS CAN PIVOT TO POLICY WORK.

Dr. Catherine Pomposi is a trained climate scientist with a passion for engaging in public policy and program management. Catherine has extensive experience working on climate policy development, climate risk management, adaptation, and improving resiliency...and drinking Dunkin’ Donuts’ iced coffees during a Nor’easter. Although Catherine is currently a Climate Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor with USAID's Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, Steph and Rachel chat with her mostly about her experience as a AAAS fellow on then-Senator Kamala Harris’ energy and environmental policy team. Following her own career transition from academia to policy, she has been inspired to work with students through various mentorship programs to help demystify the process—a goal after our own hearts!

She joins us in her personal capacity. All views and opinions expressed are her own and not necessarily those of her current or previous employers.

You can follow Catherine on twitter here and just KNOW that there was a very cute dog present for our recording.

Also, Steph and Rachel acknowledge that their podcast intro is long this week, but it was necessary that they talk all things Price is Right.

Dr. Vijay Limaye is a climate and health scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC, nbd). Vijay, who has a joint PhD in Environment & Resources AND Epidemiology, talks to Rachel and Steph about how the climate crisis (or should we be calling it the climate problem?!) IS actually a public health crisis. He chats about everything from his first job bagging groceries to his love of languages to the importance of science communication. Vijay also talks about his his journey in deciding to get a PhD while also knowing the end-game wasn’t academia, and why you should maybe check-out your college career fair. Two words: free pizza.

You can follow his very informative and entertaining twitter feed here!

Episode Notes

“Climate change” in Hindi: जलवायु परिवर्तन (jalavaayu parivartan) and Spanish: cambio climático.

Jordan Rowell doesn’t have a business card, but he does have a delightful LinkedIn bio: Student of Life & University of Vermont | Builder of Trails & Community | Producer of Place-based Media & Belly Laughs. This episode, Steph and Rachel talk to Jordan about his latest foray into “place-based media," a documentary, “No Other Lake," following his journey paddling the entirety of Lake Champlain. Along the way, he talks to all sorts of people about the lake’s ecological significance, the environmental challenges facing the basin, and how to protect it for future generations. Jordan also talks about his winding pre-college path that includes working at McDonalds, dressing up at a ski lodge as a mouse (?!) to entertain children, and leading middle-aged men through ropes courses: all experiences that led to his appreciation of outdoor recreation, community building, and conservation.

You stay updated on “No Other Lake” by following their Instagram and checking out their website.

Mary-Carson Stiff is the Director of Policy at Wetlands Watch, an environmental nonprofit working on issues like sea-level rise, wetlands preservation, and floodplain management. And she has a really cool (vertical) business card.

On the podcast this week, Mary-Carson tells Rachel and Steph all about the importance of wetlands and the things she’s doing as policy director to help them out. Read: they need a lot of help. Think of the critters! We chat about the importance of high school science teachers (shout out Dr. Peter), listening to people who tell you to not go to law school, and, of course, Taylor Swift.

You can follow all the good work Wetlands Watch is up to on Twitter.

Episode Notes

Full disclosure, we edited out where Steph and Rachel insisted to Mary-Carson that she was from Delaware, while Mary-Carson continued to insist she knew where she was from, and it was not, in fact, Delaware. But, if you want a delightful sketch about the Mid-Atlantic accent, see Elizabeth Banks on 30 Rock. Also, Julianne Moore’s Boston accent throughout that season is INSANE.

This week on How We Got Here we talk to Dr. Marysa Laguë who is… wait for it… a James S. McDonnell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Dynamic and Multi-scale Systems (WHEW!) at the University of Saskatchewan in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. Say that once. Just once. It’s a lot and it’s IMPRESSIVE.

Marysa expertly explains what climate models are to those of us podcast hosts who should really know what climate models are. What is q-u-e-u-e anyway? She also regales Steph and Rachel of stories about her first job as an educator at an 1890’s Victorian heritage town, which takes place, for the record, pre-hoop skirt, pre-bustle, and feather in cap optional.

You can follow Marysa on Twitter and Instagram for pics of her cats Alistair and Tufa.

The Hot Club - Steph’s favorite bar, ever? (Not a paid ad, but we WILL accept sponsorships.)

After taking a wonderful and necessary little holiday break in podcast editing, Rachel and Steph are back at it again! In this episode, they talk to Sarah Vogelsong, the environment and energy reporter for the Virginia Mercury.

Sarah shares with Rachel and Steph about her path into journalism, her beat (and what a beat is…), imposter syndrome, mentorship, and what it’s like to freelance. And, she gives Steph and Rachel hope that people DO really want to be informed about all things climate change. Steph also forces everyone to talk about astrology, even though they don’t want to, because she herself is a Capricorn. #iykyk

Episode Notes

You can follow Sarah on Twitter and follow Roman and Gav and his pal Dylan on Instagram.

Also, if you are like Steph and had no idea who the badass, female journalist Ida Tarbell was, you can read all about her here.

Rachel and Steph are still beyond humbled that Craig Santos Perez, who has won an American Book Award, agreed to be on their podcast. They chat with Craig, an indigenous CHamoru, about moving from his home island of Guam to California as a teenager, quitting his first job at Little Caesars, landing a teaching job, and using writing to address and cope with climate change and climate anxiety.

Rachel has the audacity to give him a writing tip; Craig teaches Steph how to improve her discussion-leading skills; and Rachel challenges Steph to a poetry-writing contest… to be judged… by an American Book Award Winner… which definitely doesn’t stress them out… at all.

Bitcoin might have a carbon footprint comparable to New Zealand, but can we do anything about it? And what even is a bitcoin, or a blockchain? Steph and Rachel force their very patient podcast guest, Doug Miller, to slowly and repeatedly explain all things cryptocurrency. Why? Because he is helping to spearhead the Crytpo Climate Accord to #MakeCryptoGreen. On this episode of the podcast, Doug talks about everything from his internship at a green architecture firm to his interest in behavioral science to his work at EnergyWeb trying to efficiently transition the electrical grid to all clean energy.