Dear Laura, I also use a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy and earned a Ph.D. in ecology, combining both fieldwork and modeling, in 2012. (I'm currently a postdoc doing curriculum development.) I'll be happy to correspond off-list, but here are two main points that I want to make publicly so others can benefit.
1. Don't assume that having a physical disability means being unable to do field work, especially if the disability in question is a spinal cord injury. There are off-road powerchairs ( http://www.accesstr.com/All_Terrain_Wheelchairs_s/1513.htm) that maybe a grant could pay for. People with SCIs can usually paddle a kayak or canoe (possibly with a seat frame or paddle holder, but those are not hard to build). They can also rock climb with adaptive equipment ( https://www.nolimitstahoe.com/) and such equipment could be adapted to tree climbing for canopy work. Horseback riding ( http://www.grit.com/animals/horse-saddles-for-handicap-riders.aspx) can provide a way to reach field sites. Or how about a snowmobile? http://www.mobility-advisor.com/adaptive-snowmobiling.html The point is that there's a lot of room for creativity here! If your school has an outdoor recreation program, they may be able to help out. Plus, there's always the time-honored tactic of asking your friends to help out. I went to my field sites to get a feel for them and identify plants, but friends did much of the actual data and sample collection. The university also paid for a field and lab assistant. 2. There's always work to be done with theory, other people's data or data collected for you. (See Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, http://www.adventurescience.org, for the latter.) Plus, depending on the student's intellectual tastes, there's modeling (dynamical and statistical), GIS, remote sensing and all that good stuff. (Ecologists are starting to use drones!) Definitely encourage your student to learn basic modeling, one or two programming languages (Python, R, Matlab, etc.) and basic GIS. She can branch out from there. Please email me if you want to correspond further. I'd also be happy to correspond with your student directly. Best, Jane On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 7:54 AM, Gough, Laura <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear all: > > A student has contacted me who wants to pursue graduate studies and an > academic career in wildlife biology. Tragically, she fractured her back two > years ago and is currently confined to a wheelchair. There is only a remote > chance that she will be able to walk again. > > I am reaching out to the Ecolog community to see if any of you have ideas > for how she can pursue her dream if she is not physically able to conduct > field work. > > Please respond to me off-list. > > Thanks in advance, > > Laura Gough > > > > > Laura Gough, Professor and Interim Chair > Department of Biology > University of Texas Arlington > Arlington, TX 76019-0498 > 817-272-2872 > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > http://www.uta.edu/biology/gough/lab/index.htm > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov, Ph.D. Mathematical Biology Curriculum Writer, UCLA co-founder, www.worldbeyondborders.org "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency." --Daniel Burnham, architect of first skyscraper (1864-1912)
