Tips from PSG Former Chairs

We asked PSG Former Chairs to share inspirational quotes for students and early career scientists… here’s what they say!

Lisa Ballance

PSG Chair 2002
Director, Marine Mammal Institute
Professor, Oregon State University

Follow your passion, even when it leads you on paths that point against all odds. If you have the fortune to do so, you are not likely to look back and regret that time spent. Seek out mentors. And be aware that great names are not necessarily great mentors. Understand that life is inherently unfair; society is composed of parts that are not equal. Take on this unfairness when you can, but do so in a constructive way, for victimization, anger, and resentment can be deeply destructive. Encourage those around you to change preconceived notions about who can be successful. Lead by example. Think critically. Question authority. Be true to your principles. And, sadly, be aware that these practices can make you vulnerable, and the fallout can be severe. Have confidence in yourself. Instead of looking on from the sidelines in awe at those currently considered to be the leaders in our field, get out on the dance floor and be part of the action. The world needs you.

Alan Burger

PSG Chair 1998
University of Victoria, retired

There is no substitute for extended time in the field and just watching your study species going about its daily life. Evolution has given us a brain which is marvelous at integrating what we see and hear in order to understand nature. Often the quantitative data, statistics and modelling just confirm what our intuition tells us.

Verena Gill

PSG Chair 2007
Wildlife Biologist, NOAA Fisheries

If you don’t understand something, be it a paper, a talk, an analysis, you are probably not alone. It usually has something more to do with the way the author or speaker is presenting it than you. I remember as a graduate student sitting in a talk at a PSG meeting and feeling like a total loser, that I didn’t belong and everyone else was smarter, and some day I was going to get called out as an imposter scientist because I had no idea what the presenter was saying. I was sitting next to a respected expert in the field who I held in very high esteem and he leaned over to me and whispered “do you have any idea what the heck this person is saying because I don’t?” You have no idea how much better that made me feel! If you have a question, speak up, because I have found people are usually thinking the same thing that you are but don’t want to ask for fear of looking stupid. To some extent we are all faking it to make it, which is how I jumped from seabirds to being a marine mammal expert…

Daniel Anderson

PSG Chair 1978, 1985
Professor Emeritus, University of California Davis

The resource always comes first, but of course not above your family. This chosen career does not provide monetary wealth but instead potentially great satisfaction in having done something which you believe has contributed to a better, more balanced world. The rigorous connection of multiple disciplines in seabird research and conservation also necessitates well-trained, well-prepared, and insightful scientists and professionals as well as established and good scientific field support and also laboratories, plus archival facilities such as established museums and data-base systems. This makes it even more critical that we all push harder for adequate societal support. We are vested in not only conservation and moral duty but just as importantly, our desire to know more for the sake of knowing more, and not to conserve and manage our natural resources mainly for exploitation or mitigation from ecological damaging activities.

John Piatt

PSG Chair 1994
Research Wildlife Biologist, USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage

Young, aspiring seabird biologists sometimes complain, “I can’t find funding for the academic seabird research I really want to do, only for pre-determined studies of wildlife driven by management issues”.  Once you kickstart a project with funding and institutional support, and find mentors and collaborators to fire up your imagination, you may eventually be able to ask as-yet unconceived questions about the system you are being funded to study. Indeed, you can become the scientist you may now think you cannot be. It is not a bad thing to wait for your “ideal study” to come together, but hitching your start to a funded project may be more exciting than you think and your research findings just might surprise the hell out of everybody; yourself most of all.

Kim Rivera

PSG Chair 2012
NOAA Fisheries, retired

Be clear on why what you’re doing matters—your research, your job. Why do you care? Why should we care? Why is it important in the big scheme of things, in the context of the world today.
Be passionate about something. If it’s not your work, then find something.
Be an advocate. For someone, for something.
Be a voice, use your voice. Speak Up.
Be kind.

Mark Rauzon

PSG Chair 1995 (PSG Vice-Chair for Conservation 2017-2019)
Marine Endeavors, Geography Professor

PSG can help translate your love of seabirds and the ocean into a field of focus, if not a career, with many avenues to pursue. What I found was the PSG experience can be intimidating, with lots of smart and articulate scientists, which alienated me. But I still loved the field so I found that volunteering with PSG gave me a purpose that the science did not, say if your research did not deliver, or you ran out of funding. You still have a reason to be relevant and you can meet folks who might show you a new way of modeling a new career path. Just remember almost everyone is here for the same reason—the love of the ocean and the birds that enliven it.

Craig S. Harrison

PSG Chair 1983 (PSG Vice-Chair for Conservation 1992-2013)

Evade unreasonable bureaucracies.

Greg Balogh

PSG Chair 2009
NOAA Fisheries

Do not attempt to predict the trajectory of your career. You will probably not be close to right. Just go with it, keep one hand on the tiller, seize opportunities, and enjoy the ride. Also, never, ever, pass up an opportunity to sing karaoke in Japan.

Julia Parrish

PSG Chair 2000
Associate Dean, College of the Environment, University of Washington

Dive in. Do it!  Stop waiting for permission; stop waiting for someone to move over, or up. Get a little uncomfortable. Realize that the young hold the promise of the future. Push back on the elders; and at the same time, step back from controversy and privately consider their advice. Think about how to stand on their shoulders. Resist anything anything that feels like bias, inequity or harassment. But also realize where the person is coming from (culturally, historically) and consider giving them a break (defined as telling them about their transgression).

Daniel Roby

PSG Chair 2004
Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Oregon State University

The times in my career when I have contributed the most, and when I’ve witnessed others having their greatest impact, are when our curiosity and imagination have gotten the better of us, and it has taken us to places we wouldn’t have dreamed of. Try to recognize those times for yourself and nurture that curiosity, whether it be some aspect of seabird ecology, conservation, or management. Because there will inevitably be times during your pursuit of a vocation or avocation involving seabirds when your passion to understand them sustains that pursuit.

Scott Hatch

PSG Chair 1988
Institute for Seabird Research and Conservation

Peer review in scientific publishing is like democracy: it’s a lousy system but nobody’s thought of a better one. Don’t get discouraged or take it personally—just keep plowing ahead and you’ll reach a just and gratifying result in the end.

Thomas Good

PSG Chair 2010
Research Fisheries Biologist, NOAA Fisheries

Be a gull. It’s good to have a plan, but don’t be too enamored with or constrained by it. Opportunistic individuals can take advantage of an unpredictable landscape, and flexibility opens alternative paths to success. Also, treat your peers and colleagues with respect, care, and honesty. Conservation is a team sport, and relationships that you cultivate in the course of your career can be long-lasting and endlessly rewarding.

George Divoky

PSG Chair 1976, 1993
Cooper Island Arctic Research

PSG can certainly assist someone wanting to pursue a career or interest in seabirds and I encourage young researchers to use all that PSG has to offer. Should you aspire to become an officer in the group, please realize your role will be to maintain the organization for the entire seabird research and conservation community, and not to have PSG assist you in promoting your or your employer’s agenda.