Hey there, I'm back! (And off again for a couple weeks)

Just finished the first year of my PhD program! I sort of underestimated how busy I would be (which explains my lack of blog entries), but I’m happy with everything I’ve accomplished over the last two semesters.

Year one, in a nutshell, consisted of four classes (fundamentals of Ecology 1 & 2, univariate and multivariate stats), three experiment deployments, and lots of experimental design/redesign. I am extremely excited that my team and I have developed a really awesome method of measuring grazing rates in the rocky intertidal and are gearing up for a big deployment this fall (more on that later). We are also pairing some really cool lab assays with the field work; I plan on posting photos and videos of this in the research section of this site. Oh yeah! My lab is also starting to develop a new project looking at human impacts on sea-to-land nutrient subsidies, too early to give you the scoop now but keep an eye out for that project.

As I keep saying in other posts— I will try to update much more often and include some awesome multimedia stuff for your viewing pleasure!

For now, I will be taking a couple weeks off of work/school and everything else! Just need a mental health break (those are important)… I love the hustle, I love staying busy, I loooove the pressure required to get our stuff done (pressure is how you make diamonds, after all ;) haha). With that said, I’m a firm believer that if you don’t let off the throttle every now and then, you run out of gas! It’s all about balance! See you soon, nerds!

ric