Fancy Scientist with Dr. Stephanie Manka

In mid 2020 when COVID shut so many things down ( virtually everything), a lot of people lost their volunteer positions, internships, or seasonal positions, and they felt that it really set them back in their career in terms of getting experience. Some people are still having a hard time finding openings because of COVID. Back then, I did an episode ( #7 ) on three things you could do to still get...

Hello everyone. And welcome to the Fancy Scientist. We’re still pretty new into the new year, about the end of January. And I am going to talk about the importance of having a vision for the longest time.  I did have certain goals, but they were either pretty obvious or pretty short term. And I didn’t have an overall vision. So when it came to graduating and then looking for a job. I quite honestl...

Hi guys. I am back. Yes. It's been a minute. If you are a regular listener to this podcast, you will remember. At the end of September, I said I was taking a break originally. I had planned to just take October. But I ended up taking off until now. Now when I say take a break, I wasn't completely taking a break. I was really focusing my time on other things. So I did take a break from the...

Is age really just a number?  But not me! Instead I developed a mindset to appreciate my age and be grateful for every day I have here. In this podcast, I talk about some major life changes for me – turning 40, changing careers, and going through a divorce. Most people think these things are scary. And while I do have my fears, for the most part I am so excited and happy for these changes.  I didn...

This is a science podcast, so why am I talking about work-life balance? Because so many scientists are bad at it! I can’t even tell you how many scientists brag about working 60 or even 80 hours a week. It seems like everyone is doing it. But there’s a great cost… This begs the question – is it possible to be successful as a scientist and work 40 hours a week? Or even less? Actually have a life ou...

Everyone should have a mentor when trying to achieve something difficult in life. In science, mentors are unavoidable.  They play an essential role. You need research experience to become a scientist, and mentorship is a central part of that research experience. In fact, in graduate school, your training and research is really built off of your advisor (AKA your mentor) and not courses or classes....

Last week on the Fancy Scientist podcast, I went over what graduate school was like and what it’s all about. This week, I talk about how you can have a successful year.  Graduate school is not like undergrad. You can’t just study hard and do well – there’s so much more to it.  I give away my 4 most important tips for you to set yourself up for a successful academic year. Even if you are not in gra...

It’s the beginning of the school year so I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about where aspiring scientists go to train to be scientists: graduate school.  Whether you are getting your Master’s or Ph. D., the experience is vastly different than undergraduate or K-12 education. In fact, I don’t think I truly understood what science was until I went to graduate school.  In this episode o...

The inspiration for all of my writing and videos stems from animals. So often people want to become a wildlife biologist because they want to help animals. They envision themselves conducting important research to grow populations or captive-rearing animals for reintroductions. But I’ve learned through all of my years of research, that to really help animals we need to take a look at ourselves.  A...

The inspiration for all of my writing and videos stems from animals. So often people want to become a wildlife biologist because they want to help animals. They envision themselves conducting important research to grow populations or captive-rearing animals for reintroductions. But I’ve learned through all of my years of research, that to really help animals we need to take a look at ourselves.  A...

This week’s podcast episode covers the second most popular answer to the question, “What is the problem you are struggling with most in regard to this career?” And the truth is all animals will be affected by climate change – including us. So if we really care about animals, we have to think and do something about these larger issues and we can’t only talk about species-specific problems.  For my...

This week’s podcast episode covers the second most popular answer to the question, “What is the problem you are struggling with most in regard to this career?” To recap, a couple of months ago, I put this post on social media asking for people in wildlife biology, ecology, or zoology careers to help me out with some research: I got so many people who were interested in helping me out (thank you!)....

A couple of months ago, I put this post on social media asking for people in wildlife biology, ecology, or zoology careers to help me out with some research: and I was shocked by the response! I got so many people who were interested in helping me out. Thank you to all of you that participated! I did this research for my own internal knowledge – so I could learn how I could better help you. In thi...

It’s summer time here in the US, which means lots of people head to the beach for vacation. With parties, holidays, and leisure happening at the beach, it can be easy to forget – or some people may never even know in the first place – that beaches are habitat for lots of wildlife.  I’ve seen so many fun animals at the beach in my adventures across the world like tropical fish, eels, dolphins, seal...

Several years ago, I went on a trip to Hilton head, South Carolina, and I woke up in the morning really early and went to the beach. This is something I always do when I am by the ocean, because you get to find some really cool stuff in the morning. And this time I found the best thing ever, or the two best things ever! I saw two baby sea turtles make their way to the ocean. Members of their nest...

You get a degree and then a job, right? That’s how it is supposed to work. But in wildlife biology, ecology, and conservation careers, it’s not so straightforward. In the wildlife science realm, you need experience, but the crazy thing is, that in our field, a lot of experiences are unpaid. Even though they are full jobs, quite often they don’t pay. To be honest, it is extremely hard to get into t...

When I scroll through my Pinterest home feed, zero waste is a common word that comes up among eco-friendly bloggers. I always wanted to try it, but producing no waste seemed so hard! I was really intimidated by the challenge and felt like I needed help.  So when Alexa Smith, author of An Economic Eclipse, reached out to me to talk all about zero waste, I was definitely on board.  In this episode,...

Through my 17 years in research, one of the biggest lessons I learned is that science alone cannot solve the biodiversity crisis. We need people to care and to change their behaviors.  People tend to view corporations as the enemy of conservation – and with good reason, they pollute, cause deforestation, and destroy habitats. But the truth is, we need to work with them if we want to solve this pro...

When I was in graduate school, everyone was talking about how if you didn’t want to go into research, you could get a job in science communication – like it was something you could just easily do. But when I was officially on the job market, I didn’t see a ton of science communication jobs posted. And when I did, I found out that employers wanted communications professionals interested in science...

I was recently featured on an Instagram live hosted by @shine.science and I was asked the question, “How do you handle negative comments on social media?” I had such a long answer that I thought it would make an excellent podcast episode! I’ve been putting myself out there (and by there I mean the Internet) since about 2010 when I started a professional Twitter account and blog. Eleven years later...

What you eat has a huge impact on wildlife and that’s true for the ocean too. Commercial fishing can have large-scale negative impacts on dolphins, turtles, and whole ecosystems. Overfishing can endanger the species that is fished affecting ecosystems and our food availability.   Some people advocate for stopping to eat seafood all together, but this may not be the best option for us and sea life....

Do you have a backyard? Front yard? Balcony? Access to a rooftop? Then you can help wildlife! I invited naturalist David Mizejewski on the podcast to talk about how you can make your yard, balcony, or whatever you have access to more wildlife friendly. David is an author, TV host, and naturalist who works for the National Wildlife Federation spreading messages about conservation in your own backya...

George Gehrig subscribes to the Fancy Scientist and responded to an email of mine asking about the impact of iNaturalist data on science. I thought that sounded like a great topic to discuss, and when I found out that George was the organizer of the City Nature Challenge for Bonner County, I thought – even better! iNaturalist is an app that anyone with a smartphone can use to take photos of differ...

I became a wildlife biologist because I wanted to save species from extinction. But I’ve learned over my nearly two decades in this field, that we really can’t save species without focusing on ourselves first When people think of wildlife conservation, they often conjure up images of scientists in the field with animals, studying where they move, what they eat, or how many there are. This definite...

Last week I talked about how you can make your front and backyard  wildlife-friendly , and this week, I’m talking specifically about mammals! Lots of people want to welcome mammals into their yards, but don’t do it in the best way. In fact, by doing some things wrong, you could actually end up hurting and even indirectly killing mammals.  As a wildlife biologist who has studied mammals for nearly...