Aloha,
I find myself exploring so many new topics these days, that journaling might be the only way of following my path. Today has been about trying to understand ecohydrology modeling. I have so much to learn!
There is some doubt as well. As I finish my NSF personal statement, I realized that my path *has* really turned, in ways that I am not sure I intended. I set out on this academic adventure to try and improve our food systems - I love farmer's markets and agriculture and being on farms and working with farmers. I love aquaculture, the idea of growing things, anything, suits me so well. But no matter how hard I look for the right program, I come to a dead-end - in America at least. So frustrating! UC Davis sort of works, but even there most of the work in aquaculture is happening either in 1) extension - which is great, but doesn't always require a phd and 2) in growth hormones, hormone therapy, other topics in bioengineering that I feel like I'd rather steer clear of or 3) in Idaho and Alabama. where they grow trout and catfish, respectively.
So, this leads me back to where I've been for the last couple of months. Trying to cram agriculture, wastewater engineering and marine science into a cohesive proposal. I've been led to applied marine biogeochemistry, and looking at nitrogen (and sometimes oxygen) isotopes. Apparently, wastewater, atmospheric and agriculture all have different N15 markers that allow you to distinguish. Macrophytes have been shown to be great bioindicators of nitrogen pollution (see the Valiela lab at Boston U). And, this is all great, but coastal hydrodynamic conditions come into play pretty quickly, and there are mountains of book waiting for me to understand marine coastal dynamics.
Quickly I feel out of my league! To catch up on enough geochemistry to be able to write a cohesive proposal is a little daunting as of today.
In other news, I am officially a "professor" (no, lecturer) in physics and engineering. I have about 70 college students in total who are learning all their physics and dynamics from ME. How nuts.
E wa'a mai i na kai - Sailing the seas
