Career Overview: What I Do As a Nerd
Plants are such a ubiquitous aspect of life – in fact, its very foundation – that you can rarely think about researching them. Botany can bear fruit in many areas that affect our daily lives, from medicine to agriculture and environmental sciences.
To learn a little about what it is like to work in botany, we spoke with researcher and writer Heather Stone . Interestingly, Heather did not pursue a purely academic career; she eventually took up botany, even though she was initially frustrated by the intimidating nature of scientific research. But opportunities arose that literally took her to the rainforest, where she helped in the field before ending her current role in the botanical laboratory.
Tell us about your current position and how long you have been in it.
I work as a research assistant in a botanical laboratory and write a part-time science writer. I have been doing botany for about 2.5 years and have been doing scientific work for a little over a year.
What prompted you to choose your career path? Why botany?
Because the plants are, of course, the best! In fact, I’ve always been obsessed with them. I was that weird kid who picked flowers in the backyard of my friends’ parents every time they came to see me (I’m sure I was a delightful guest). Plants support nearly all life on Earth – even if you are a pure carnivore, your diet is only possible through plants. They are the lungs of the Earth, they provide most of our medicines (or their chemistry inspires medicines made in the laboratory), they are one of the main ways humans connect with the natural world, and they are beautiful.
It also seemed natural to me to write scientific articles. Again, I’ve always been that weird kid filling out notebooks (at least when I wasn’t hiding in my friends’ gardens). I love to explore and learn new things and I really enjoy getting carried away with the subject. There is a lot to learn. I like to summarize what I’ve learned and share it with a wider audience of people who may not be very knowledgeable about the topic or don’t like to read tons of articles on the same topic as me.
How did you get a job? What kind of education and experience did you need?
To be honest, I am very lucky. I’ve always been interested in biology (botany in particular), but unfortunately I didn’t have anything like a career plan when I was in college – I was young, naive and unmotivated. I ended up getting my degree in Spanish because when I tried to specialize in biology the first science lesson I took was huge, difficult and discouraging (partly my fault for not studying harder, but the professor actually apologized in front of the class for how difficult the tests were, so I feel okay not taking it completely). That was enough to convince me that I was stupid and shouldn’t be doing science at all, which was terrible. I consoled myself by learning Spanish because I like languages and have already gotten a few credits in high school.
Then, in the second semester of my junior year, I took the Gen Bio course and got the WAY in it too. I was a girl strolling out of the lab at 8 a.m. with a fueled and ready laptop. I was the one who got really into collecting leaf samples. I saw a poster in the campus biology building about a meeting of students wishing to take part in the research, and decided that I had nothing to lose by attending it. (There was also pizza.) By then, I had decided to study abroad in Costa Rica to help with my Spanish, and one of the women who hired the assistant was fieldworking in … Costa Rica! It seemed too good to be true. I applied, got a scholarship and worked in the rainforest for a month. It was the best, most magical summer of my life, and after that I was hooked. When I got back, I basically talked people into giving me a job — I showed up at my current boss’s office after graduating from college and literally begged her to let me sweep her floors. She took a chance and as I learned more my responsibilities increased and now I’m doing some really interesting research.
I got into scientific literature in a different way. One day I was looking for ways to get involved in bee research. You probably know that bee populations around the world are declining and how important they are to almost every ecosystem, so for this reason I wanted to devote some of my time to helping them. In addition, plants and pollinators are closely related. They develop together and depend on each other, so it’s logical to assume that my favorite animals will be pollinators! I saw a poster about working with bees part-time, so I met up with the guy I was hiring to ask about the opportunities. It turned out that our schedules did not match, but he gave my name to two women who run a public research organization that is conducting a census of local bees. I started writing for their blog and have been around since then – I’ve written a sustainability column for a couple of newspapers and run an arts / science website where I’m the main science writer.
Do you need any licenses or certificates?
When my current job is over, I will almost certainly have to go to graduate school, but I managed to get three research papers without a master’s thesis, so it can be done. To be honest, I would prefer to postpone this as long as possible. When it comes to being hired as a writer, writing and editing experience is a plus, but my lack of a science or journalism degree hasn’t hindered me yet.
What are you doing besides what most people see? What do you actually spend most of your time on?
I do a lot of computer work. I spend most of my time processing samples in the laboratory, analyzing them using various software, reading the results of previous studies and drawing conclusions based on what I see. Tables aren’t very attractive, but Excel and I are best friends. In addition to working in the field, my favorite is the laboratory procedures. There is nothing better than carrying a jug of acid or liquid nitrogen with you to feel cool. Often times you can actually see chemistry in action with the naked eye, depending on what you are doing – this is a very specific, satisfying way to understand what I just read about in school.
What misconceptions do people often have about your job?
Almost everyone I’ve ever talked to thinks I’m growing or studying cannabis. There is indeed a guy in our department who is sequencing the cannabis genome, but his job is much more than just that. Many people also think that I grow gardens to make a living gardening, not botany. I work a lot in the laboratory and sometimes in the field, but my primary focus is research, not garden design and cultivation.
How does the work of a laboratory assistant in botany differ from work in laboratories in other fields? I think the answer is … plants.
You’re right! In addition, each laboratory has a different research focus, so even those with similar interests can offer something unique. When I write, I don’t have much focus, but I really like sustainability. I basically write any topic that interests me and everything I think could be gained from a little clarification.
Does your job involve going to the field to collect samples?
Yes! Actually, that’s why I got involved in botany and biology in general. Traveling is also a common thing, and this is a big plus for me. I hope to travel to Bolivia in January to collect samples, and maybe in a couple of months to Mexico to dig into the DF herbarium (which is essentially a plant museum).
What’s your average uptime?
If I am not traveling or at a conference, I work 40 hours a week. Field work requires more effort, since it is completely dependent on what is in nature. You may need to spend 12 or 14 hours a day just getting the job done, especially if you can’t find what you’re looking for.
What personal tips and shortcuts have made your job easier?
Always keep an open mind. Both my full-time job and my part-time job offer an honest and as subjective view of data or phenomena as possible. Sometimes what I find is disappointing, but sometimes I don’t find what I’m looking for because I found something unexpected, even more interesting.
What are you doing differently from your colleagues or colleagues in the same profession? What are they doing instead?
Although I work in an academic laboratory, I am not a graduate student. This means that my job is to be a jack of all trades. On some days I will analyze the biochemical processes in the plant, and on other days I will collect lichen samples or perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation of plants on a dull sample from a greenhouse. I am very fortunate to be able to learn a lot from others, especially as many of them have to really focus on their specific projects. My colleagues probably have a deeper understanding of their project than I can expect from anyone / everything of mine, so there are trade-offs.
What’s the worst part of a job and how do you deal with it?
Research can be very tedious. Small mistakes can take less than a second, but cost you an entire day. On some days, you feel like you are about to pull out your hair if you need to take another look at what you are doing. Redundancy is just part of the job (and perhaps the power of science in the first place), so I usually turn on music or a podcast and accept that the process is what it is. This is what will lead me to some interesting and cool conclusions.
Finding places to post can be very frustrating. Unfortunately, writing doesn’t make a lot of money for the vast majority of people, so I’ll only be doing it part-time. In the last column I wrote, I was getting paid $ 10 a week, which was actually not bad considering many sites won’t pay you at all. It seems that this is the nature of the beast, so I accept it as it is, enjoy the process and carefully look for new opportunities.
What is the most enjoyable part of the job?
I love learning and I really enjoy learning about plants. I love to be able to actively research almost anything I want and share it with both the scientific community and the public at large. Meeting rare or exotic plants never loses its brilliance for me, and in science, truth is often more bizarre and fascinating than fiction.
How are you “progressing” in your field?
Overall, I believe that publishing is an indicator of success. This has its pros and cons, just like everything else: more publication means more research is done and more knowledge about our world is published. But it also means that sometimes the pressure is too much and too sloppy, rushed work is released, or that really good scientists who write slowly are unfairly punished.
What do people underestimate / overestimate in what you do?
I think people treat science as something completely cut off from their lives, as if scientists are in an ivory tower, and research is in no way applicable to their lives. They underestimate the real impact this has. You may not be personally interested in some areas of research, but the beauty of research is its sheer volume. There is so much work going on around the world on every imaginable topic. Chances are, a lot of this work will affect your life in some way, even if indirectly, especially as we learn more about climate change.
On the other hand, I think people also tend to take the words of scientists or science journalists as gospel. Just because someone said it doesn’t mean it’s true! Scientists are people too, and we have biases or mistakes. When you read something (ESPECIALLY science journalism targeted at the general public), take it all with a grain of salt and check more than one source before even believing it. Remember that chocolate research that went viral recently and everyone swallowed it whole? It was a complete fake. Be careful and judicious when reading scientific news, and don’t be afraid to be skeptical about it. Everyone has the ability to think scientifically, so use it!
What advice would you give to those who want to become your profession?
Science for everyone! (Yes, even you!) Don’t be alarmed if you don’t do as well in your science class as you would like and don’t feel exceptionally stupid. Everyone secretly pretends that they are smarter than they really are. Don’t worry if you have to Google frantically. I do this every day, and so does my boss. To ask questions. You will never regret it.
Look for opportunities in unexpected places, keep an open mind, and remember that you will be doing a lot of hard work in the beginning. Most importantly, there is so much to worry about, and if you truly love to learn, any challenges you run into along the way will pay off completely.