Skip to Main Content

Floress Shares With Students to Seize Opportunities When Presented

Alumni: Kristen Floress
Degree:
PhD Natural Resources Social Science
Graduation: 2008
Business Title: Research Social Scientist
Business: USDA Forest Service

 

When I graduated from FNR with my PhD in August, 2008, I began a position as an Assistant Professor of Human Dimensions in the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. I had a 20% extension, 80% teaching appointment - that is, no dedicated time for research. Through my extension appointment, though, I continued doing applied research related primarily to lake and watershed planning and management. Around the time that I was tenured at UWSP in 2015, I decided to apply for the Research Social Scientist position with USFS. I knew it was a long-shot, but the job had a few great perks: 1) I had two very young children, and if I were able to live in the Chicago area, I’d be close to all of my family; 2) I was ready for a change, and the UW system was going through massive upheavals; and 3) it was my dream job! How could I pass up this kind of chance? These types of positions are not common, and I knew another opportunity would not come around for a long time.

With USFS, every day I feel like I’ve done at least a little bit of good. I do applied research with nearby counties on oak restoration, National Forests in the Northeast and Midwest on landscape scale conservation, and with organizations as far-reaching as the Food and Agriculture Organization on food security and climate in Africa. My advice to current students and recent graduates – not that anyone asked for it - is to take chances, apply for things you don’t think you’re qualified to do (because you probably are), learn to network if you aren’t a natural conversationalist, and don’t get stuck in a pattern of doing the same thing over and over (unless you really enjoy that).

Featured Stories

Dr. John Kershaw conducting terrestrial laser scanning in Newfoundland with students in 2017; Dr. Kershaw with the first UNB-MAHE nursing cohort in July 2023.
Dr. John Kershaw Receives 2024 FNR Lifetime Achievement Award

When Dr. John Kershaw grew up in southern Indiana between Mooresville and Martinsville, he had a...

Read More
BJ Meadows with her family at the Fish Fry; BJ Meadows receiving her Lifetime Achievement plaque from Dr. Zhao Ma
BJ Meadows Named 2024 FNR Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Betty Jane “BJ” Meadows was the first female graduate from Purdue’s...

Read More
Dr. Ken Kellner at a computer; Kellner teaching; Kellner at Denali National Park.
Dr. Ken Kellner Named Outstanding Young Alumni Award Recipient

Dr. Ken Kellner, who earned his master’s degree (2012) and PhD (2015) from Purdue and...

Read More
Dr. Joe Robb releases ducks with his son Jason; Dr. Joe Robb on a prescribed fire scene; Dr. Joe Robb holds a hognose snake.
Dr. Joe Robb Earns Chase S. Osborn Award in Wildlife Conservation

Dr. Joe Robb, who has spent the last 26 years serving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the...

Read More
Dr. Zackary Delisle holding two frogs as a child; Dr. Zackary Delisle holding a cottonmouth snake during his master's degree research; Dr. Zackary Delisle doing an aerial survey in Alaska in his current role as an ecologist with the National Park Service.
Dr. Zackary Delisle Receives 2024 Chase S. Osborn Early Career Award for Wildlife Conservation

Dr. Zackary Delisle (PhD 2023), whose research in Indiana was instrumental for enacting deer...

Read More
John Baugh stands in front of the Purdue Memorial Union.
Commitment to the community of agriculture

It was December in the Indiana Statehouse, and legislators rushed around, preparing to discuss...

Read More
To Top