This week’s guest is Stephanie Schuttler. Stephanie talks about her path to being a wildlife biologist: she had not planned on being one, or ever thought she could be one but a trip to Kenya changed all that. She ended up studying the African forest elephant for her PhD, and is involved with citizen scientists to use camera traps to study wildlife around the world. She also runs her own blog, podcast, and YouTube channel called the Fancy Scientist.

Becoming a Wildlife Biologist

Stephanie says that she ended up in wildlife biology by accident—she didn’t know it was a career. Her family wasn’t particularly outdoorsy either and “camping” was staying in a hotel room on family trips to state parks. Things changed while studying abroad in Kenya where she learned about wildlife biology careers around the world.

Stephanie saw studying abroad as a one-time opportunity to see the world but the path towards wildlife biologist was not a clear one—this was a time before any information was available on the internet or social media. She took a few years off, working on some internships to gain experience and eventually applied to graduate school.

Camera Traps and Citizen Science

Stephanie was hired as a postdoc at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science for a citizen science camera-trapping project—citizen science is a form of science where anyone can participate (and you don’t need a degree in science).

This project was implemented to get K through 12 classrooms involved in citizen science. Stephanie’s challenge was figuring out a way to implement the research (the camera trap data) into classrooms and ensure it is aligned with science teaching standards that teachers had to implement; instead of doing laboratory exercises in school, students are doing real scientific research that is meaningful to scientists.

The Fancy Scientist Blog and Podcast

Stephanie started her blog, and eventual podcast as a way to talk about her journey as a wildlife biologist and her love for conservation. She also hopes to smash stereotypes. On her blog, she describes herself as “the daughter of a jeweler with an affinity of sparkles.” This allows her to talk how fashion and beauty products (the things she loves) affect the environment, and offer suggestions for her readers to do better.

Her podcast was another way to communicate to her audience. As she points out, engagement is better compared to other forms of communication, say a blog post or a YouTube video—people can stop reading an article, or stop mid-way in a YouTube video. As people are more likely to listen to an entire podcast episode, it is a great way to reach people.

A Book on becoming a Wildlife Biologist

As Stephanie states in the interview, her path to becoming a wildlife biologist was not always a clear one, or a straight line;she admittedly made some mistakes along the way. Many of the things she learned along the way cannot easily be found on the internet. Stephanie hopes to demystify the process and help other students who plant to pursue a career in wildlife biology.

You can check Stephanie on social media:

• Twitter: @FancyScientist
• Facebook: Fancy Scientist
• YouTube: Fancy Scientist
• Instagram: Fancy Scientist
• Pinterest: Fancy Scientist