Victoria (V) Makowski, Aquatic Ecologist:
Victoria, or V as friends call her, grew up in Buffalo, NY, where harsh lake-effect winters drove her to question how nature could accomplish feats such as 7 feet of snow overnight. Since then, science and art have continued to propel her curious mind to question just about every aspect of the natural world. Why is the sky blue? Why did the bug roll into a ball when she poked it? It led to many experiments being “conducted” in her mother`s refrigerator and her father`s garage. More than that, it cultivated a deep love and appreciation for the outdoors. After moving to Georgia and realizing working retail for the rest of her life wasn`t ideal, she decided to go back to school for ecology. Being in a classroom setting again after five years rekindled her love for learning and her drive to make a difference in the world. Even when first beginning her degree program, she never envisioned the plethora of opportunities that would be available, and she took advantage of as many as she possibly could. She participated in research projects spanning from solo to small groups to great collaborative efforts. Topics ranged from fiddler crabs and dietary microplastics to herbarium cataloging/digitization to engineering a water chemistry sensor. Her favorite project so far has been monitoring oceanic fish diversity off the barrier island of St Catherine`s Island, GA. In her opinion, there`s nothing quite like pulling in a seine net in the blistering sun or the chilly winter, only to have the unique fish assemblage within the net make the weather conditions a second thought. Identifying fish has become one of her treasured skills, no matter how frustrating it may become. Her career goals are to attend graduate school in the near future to further expand her knowledge and list of expertise. During graduate school, she would like to explore the option of teaching to feel out if academia is something she would genuinely enjoy. Past that, she has considered fields such as fisheries management or conservation. Research-wise, topics she would like to investigate include maternal offloading, community structure, anthropogenic influences, reproductive behavior, general development, and physiology. Her current organisms of study are striped bass, hybrid bass, and mummichogs.
