Name: Maura Slocum (she/her)
PhD: Soil Biogeochemistry (Earth & Environmental Science), University of Pennsylvania, 2024
What was your main area of research?
The majority of carbon in soil is in soil organic matter (debris from living things) and living things (macro organisms and microbes). Microbes cycle carbon through soil while soil organic matter can store carbon for longer periods of time. Partially combusted organic matter contains pyrogenic carbon, which typically has a longer residence time in soil. I studied the physical, chemical, and biological cycling and storage of organic matter in African Dark Earths, or soils that are managed by indigenous West African communities and contain more carbon compared to naturally occurring, un-managed soils.
What is your current job?
I am the Stewardship Director at Genesee Valley Conservancy in Geneseo, New York.
I manage 35,000 acres of conserved land in the Genesee Valley. Genesee Valley Conservancy holds approximately 200 conservation easements on farmland and owns 6 nature preserves in the Genesee Valley. Managing the land requires maintaining landowner relationships to ensure perpetuity of conservation agreements, and maintaining or re-wilding natural areas owned by the conservancy.
I love interacting directly with the land and engaging with the community to maintain and promote land conservation.
How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?
I found this job through the Conservation Job Board listserv.
PhD graduate ➡️ Stewardship Director
Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?
My mental and physical health was suffering with the work-life boundaries within academia. Although I love teaching and research, I could not keep up with the pace. The decision to leave academia is difficult on my ego sometimes, but my mental and physical health has improved since leaving.
What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?
Conduct informational interviews with folks who are in the positions that you are interested in. They can help provide context for the job qualifications, so that you can find opportunities at your institution to gain the experience necessary to match the qualifications. These opportunities could be an additional class, certificates, volunteering, etc.
There is great value in being a "translator". Although you may not continue doing research in your field of study, you can be incredibly valuable to a non-academic organization as a communicator between published work/research from academia and applied work by a non-academic organization.
Do not be discouraged by the first interview with a non-academic organization. Interviewing outside of academia takes practice, and you learn a lot about what you want to do from the interviewing/application process.
Are there any components of your identity you would like to share, including how they have impacted your journey?
I had to ask myself if my male colleagues would apply for certain positions. More often than not, I would think I was not qualified to apply, but would think that my male colleague would be qualified (internal bias). As a woman, you should apply for jobs that you think you are not qualified for, because you actually might be.