Jaclyn with her mentees at a Career Discovery Group poster session at the University of California, Davis.
Delivering an hour-long public talk in Spanish to community members in Loreto, Mexico, about ecosystem services provided by bats.
Leading a classroom course about ground squirrel biology and data collection for the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory Youth Program.
Diversity, Education, & Outreach
To make real, positive change in the fields of ecology and conservation, we must make science more accessible to those who lack the opportunity to engage in traditional research pathways, and we must communicate science to broader audiences that would otherwise be disengaged or denied easy access to science- and nature-based content. As a woman in ecology, Jaclyn tailors her work to reflect her aspiration to empower women and girls while communicating science. As a first generation scholar, she strives to bring issues surrounding inequity in science to the forefront of the conversation. Jaclyn is a member of diversity committees at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and The Western Section of The Wildlife Society, for which she created a short film about a lack of human diversity in the wildlife sciences. She also spent 3 years mentoring first generation freshmen students through the UC Davis Career Discovery Program.
We've all heard the expression, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Visual storytelling is a powerful way to convey interesting and important stories about the world around us. For that reason, Jaclyn gave a public talk in both English and Spanish to locals from Loreto, Mexico, where she conducted research on bats. She also works as the Science Communications Lead for Photography Inspiring Children in Conservation, a nonprofit organization that uses education and storytelling to engage Malagasy children with lemur ecology and use their photographs to promote ecotourism. Jaclyn enjoys communicating science through film. She was recently interviewed by the Wild and Scenic Film Festival about her film, Tracking Snow, which is featured in the National Geographic short film showcase. She also works as a Science Communications Specialist and Project Manager at NatureServe.
Jaclyn has many years of experience engaging members of all age groups through hands-on outreach activities and conservation efforts. For 4 years, she was a Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship Mentor, during which time she worked with high school students to do outdoor restoration projects. She also regularly gives presentations to the Kids Camp program and undergraduate wildlife courses at The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and the Crested Butte Rock Garden Club, and she mentors teams of students both in the field and in the lab.
In addition to communicating science through outreach and visual projects, Jaclyn has over 9 years of traditional teaching experience in the classroom. She has given lectures, written and graded exams, and led discussions and laboratory exercises for hundreds of students across several undergraduate wildlife courses at UC Davis. More information about her teaching and outreach experiences can be found in her CV.
Jaclyn with her 2017 field crew at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado.
Jaclyn with students from Sacramento High School, showing off their handmade owl nest box that was created through the Center for Land-based Learning's Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship program in Winters, California.