Habitat Restoration/Field Biology/Conservation
Hi All!
Since everyone here was so helpful during my application process, I thought I would turn to you again for help in the beginnings of the process for my partner. He is a field research biologist and wants to go back to school in the next few years, but there are so many catch phrases out there with regards to what he wants to study that he could use a little direction. Any recommendations for programs, reference materials or general application processes would be so helpful.
Here is his background: Undergrad in Envionmental Biology, during which he did an internship studying birds and aquatic plantlife with the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation. Graduated, did another research internship with Channel Islands National Park, studying a particular bird's reproductive success in order to develop a habitat restoration plan. Will be a second author on a paper forthcoming on that research. Then got a job doing similar monitoring in a NY State Forest, on another bird. He knows he wants to continue his career path in FIELD research with a focus on habitat restoration for threatened or endangered species, birds, mammals or amphibians. (Thought most of his work has been with birds, he doesn'y neccessarily want to keep it that way.)
Now that we're moving so I can start graduate school, he is looking to begin that process as well. He wants to focus his search in Iowa (where we will be) but isn't tied down to that, neccessarily. His main concerns are: What should my graudate "major" be? Am I a better fit for ecology, conservation biology, natural resource management, etc. Also, how specific should my research interests be? There are some schools that seem to want an outline for a specific research project, and others just want general research interests (which is certainly more where he is right now).
Overall, advice from anyone who has gone through the process in this field would be great. We need a starting point from which to jump!
Since everyone here was so helpful during my application process, I thought I would turn to you again for help in the beginnings of the process for my partner. He is a field research biologist and wants to go back to school in the next few years, but there are so many catch phrases out there with regards to what he wants to study that he could use a little direction. Any recommendations for programs, reference materials or general application processes would be so helpful.
Here is his background: Undergrad in Envionmental Biology, during which he did an internship studying birds and aquatic plantlife with the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation. Graduated, did another research internship with Channel Islands National Park, studying a particular bird's reproductive success in order to develop a habitat restoration plan. Will be a second author on a paper forthcoming on that research. Then got a job doing similar monitoring in a NY State Forest, on another bird. He knows he wants to continue his career path in FIELD research with a focus on habitat restoration for threatened or endangered species, birds, mammals or amphibians. (Thought most of his work has been with birds, he doesn'y neccessarily want to keep it that way.)
Now that we're moving so I can start graduate school, he is looking to begin that process as well. He wants to focus his search in Iowa (where we will be) but isn't tied down to that, neccessarily. His main concerns are: What should my graudate "major" be? Am I a better fit for ecology, conservation biology, natural resource management, etc. Also, how specific should my research interests be? There are some schools that seem to want an outline for a specific research project, and others just want general research interests (which is certainly more where he is right now).
Overall, advice from anyone who has gone through the process in this field would be great. We need a starting point from which to jump!