Salamander Chronicles

As the semester comes to an end the field season gets closer and closer.  As of now I am still tweaking my travel plans, but I have a general idea of where I am going and at what time. Below I have embedded an Excel spreadsheet which has my current summer itinerary. One tab lists all of the sites and what campground I am planning on staying at along with the approximate dates. A second tab lists the different campsites with nightly costs and amenities offered at each site. The color coding just associates sites together because they are close to one another. The blacked out sites are places I will probably not use, but I have permission to use if I need to add them on later. On the camping tab the color coding is for campsites that are in the same region so I may use one or the other (or a different one if I find something better). Everything is still up in the air, but this is a general idea of where I will be going. If anyone is interested in camping out and looking for some salamanders, let me know and we can try to arrange a spot to meet up.

Once I leave in early May (May 6th – 8th) I will have limited cell service so if you want to meet up during the summer, call and leave a message or send me an e-mail. I will get back to you whenever I get service again.

I will try to update during the summer whenever I have internet, but until then, I am off to do some science!

I will basically be living out of my 2000 Nissan Xterra from May-August.  Therefore I wanted to make sure that the vehicle was prepared for a summer of field work.  This meant replacing a broken leaf spring and my front and rear shocks.

Another big issue I will need to deal with this summer is a lack of some of the technology that makes doing research a bit easier.  Things that I can not really avoid will be a lack of cell service or internet at most field sites.  This is not a huge deal as I can go to coffee shops in nearby towns  and back up data and contact people when it is necessary.  The real issue I needed to address was a lack of electricity.  Could I get away without electricity during most of the summer?  Yes.  However, it would make the work much more cumbersome and I would also be at a greater risk of losing data.  Most of my field gear needs to be charged or takes batteries such as my flashlights, headlamps, temperature probe, moisture meter, and GPS.  I could theoretically carried a bunch of batteries with me, but that would have been a pretty big waste of batteries.  I also have a cell phone and laptop, both of which I will want to use to enter data and use important software such as ArcGIS.  They also help add some distractions after working in the forest all day, especially when I will have two field assistants all summer long.  I think it is especially important to make field assistants watch slasher horror movies with a camping theme right before we go to sleep while camping.

So in order to help alleviate this problem I made a few modifications to my vehicle.  One, I added a solar panel system.  This is hooked to a 400 watt inverted which is wired under the passenger seat.  The battery and controller are stored in the back of the car (first photo below) with the connection for the solar panel set near the roof so I can store the solar panel when not in use and easily set it up when I want to charge the battery.  Secondly, I had a Optima Yellowtop battery installed (second photo below) which is charged off the alternator and also directly linked to both DC outlets.   I also added a 1200 watt inverter (third photo below) connected directly to the battery. The plastic cover I added should have proper ventilation for the inverter but still protect it from any water or dirt that gets into the car when loading gear. This setup should offer my assistants and myself enough electricity to keep our cell phones, laptop, and field gear charged all summer long.

I also added in some PVC shelves (first photo below).  If I knew what I was doing they would probably be a little nicer, but they should get the job done.  I was also able to hook up an LED light strip (third photo below) to the underside of the shelf which hooks directly to the solar panel battery. The main purpose of the PVC shelving is to help keep gear organized all summer long.  The biggest problem I have had, even on short trips, is that gear starts out well organized and quickly gets jumbled as the work progresses.  I am hoping to avoid that as much as possible this summer.  In the second picture below you can see the 400 watt inverter under the passenger seat that is hooked to the solar panel system.  That photo also shows the mini PVC compartment I created to prop up the cooler and add a bit of extra storage space. If it is not obvious, I removed the back seat on the drivers side.  This adds some extra storage space and was easy to remove ( and will be easy to reattach later).

Finally, I cleaned up the car a bit, which is mostly just to have a clean start since I know it will become filthy during the course of the summer.  I also attached my reviewer mirror that was knocked off 3 years ago and also scrapped off all the old parking and registration stickers from the drive side windshield.  Now all that’s left is to see how well this vehicle works this summer!

Well it has been a crazy month.  In all I applied for ~$75,000 in funding this year.  Much of this total came from applications submitted to 4 sources, National Geographic, National Science Foundation, the Explorer’s Club, and the Ohio University Student Enhancement Award, which all together totaled ~$63,000 .  I applied for several other smaller grants, but essentially without one of the large grants coming through I was going to be in serious trouble during the up coming field season.  During the final week of March I received rejections from most of these agencies including the National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, which is not only very prestigious but also provides $12,000.  To put it lightly I was depressed and worried.

However, as it always seems to happen, with bad news came good news.  Despite already receiving an OCEES fellowship a few weeks earlier, which relieves me of teaching duties for a full semester, I was informed that I was awarded the Graduate College fellowship.  This fellowship is only awarded to 5 student in the university and provides a full year of tuition waivers and ~15,000 worth of service free stipend for the year.  This news really lifted my spirits  but I still needed money for research.  What good is time off from teaching if I do not have the money to do my research?

The end of the week rolled around and I assumed I would have to wait another weekend to find out about all of my pending grant applications, when Dr. Larry Witmer popped into my office to inform me that I received the Ohio University Student Enhancement Award!  This was a MAJOR relief because it provides $6,000 in research funds which would at least minimally support me for the rest of the year even if all my other grants fell through. Phew! relief has set in and now every other grant is just potential to improve my project.

Finally, on Tuesday April 2nd, I was notified that I once again received the Exploration Fund grant from the Explorers Club! This provides another $2,000 for my research which essentially ensures that I can deal with even unexpected problems this summer and still complete my field work as planned.  In all I have received $4,500 from the Explorers Club making them a big contributor to the success of my research.

I am still waiting to hear back from several other grants, but as of now I am comfortable, everything else will just be icing on the cake.

Essentially within a 2 week period I went from questioning my life in academia to a complete restoration of my confidence in myself and my project.  It is astonishing that many professors live so long and even continue working most of their lives, because I feel like I shave a year off my life every grant season dealing with these highs and lows.