With the leadership program, we each do a thirty day rotation at another unit at the Smithsonian. Because I wanted to expand my credibility with the hard sciences, I looked at options with the research units. And I was lucky -- I had two incredible options. In the end, I chose SERC, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center over by the Chesapeake Bay.
It's an amazing place. 2650 acres of protected land that is forest, wetland, and estuary. They have seventeen active labs conducting research, decadal data sets that are used around the globe, and connections that reach hither and beyond. Even when I'm in my "office" there, and not in the field or in a lab, it's light-years from my day-job office, and I'm loving it. Incredible people doing incredible things, and I can't believe they let me come join them.
These photos are all from along the blue (or Java) trail, which connects the lab and admin buildings with the education center and docks. Ready? Let's go on a hike!
No idea what's eating these leaves, exactly, but the ants I saw didn't seem to be leaf cutters. Below are wine berries, invasive, and very tasty.
SERC started with the bequest of the 365-acre Java Farm in 1964. Markers along this trail talk about dairy farming, plantation life, Native American life, and environmental preservation.
The blue paint on the trees makes sure visitors don't get lost in the woods.
The crazy derecho storm caused lots of damage at SERC, including the marsh experiments of my host supervisor.
Backside of the education center.
They do a five-part estuary program with the school kids, which includes water quality, oyster bar communities, crabbing, plankton, and seining. It is so amazingly fun!
The seining spot, looking out on the Rhode River, a tributary of the Chesapeake.
I found this pretty beetle fighting his way out of the tide.
From the seining spot, you can see the floating classroom along the docks, the location of the oyster, crab, and water quality stations.
I love tulip poplar leaves. This was interesting, since the oyster shell had "migrated" here. There are many oyster middens along the water, evidence of earlier Native American use of the land.
The trail also goes through a marsh area. My first day, we released a small terrapin into the muddy flats. During this walk, I saw a black rat snake in the marsh. I was thankfully up on the platform.
This is the backside of the lab building, which is where I share an office with the folks working in the lab of my host supervisor. The construction is beyond it, and is the new lab underway. This building will revolutionize how they work, and more, will be a green building. Amazing -- a green lab building! Unheard of, and super cool.
While I'm there, I'm tapping in to various teams to meet the scientists and get a better understanding of what they do. So far, I've been connected well with the education team, the biogeochemistry folks and the orchid folks. I have some work coming up with the oyster midden team, the forest teams, the marine invasives, and others. I'm building my knowledge and skills and together we're thinking about long-term collaborations between our units. I'm there two or three days a week, which means I'm in my home office at most half-time. And yes, like my classmates, I'm struggling to find the balance. Doing a full-time job with half-time office presence is tough; and when you add in two other half-time jobs (SERC and the leadership program), well, I'm rather tired these days. But, everything is so incredible, that it's so worth it.
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