Fighting Fires and Studying Nature with Environmental Scientist Elise Rodriguez | Ep. 12

After School Program

"Take a writing course or an English course, anything that's going to be heavy in writing, because I've seen that be valued very heavily in a variety of positions."

Elise Rodriguez is an Environmental Scientist with Churchill Consulting Engineers. She’s worked as a research assistant, firefighter, farmworker, park ranger, and wildlife technician.

Elise has held positions at the University of North Carolina, University of Nebraska, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. She’s lived in New York, Oregon, California, Nevada, Florida, and even Kenya.

Elise completed her undergraduate at Dickinson College in 2011 and finished graduate school at Villanova University in 2018.

In this episode:

(4:54) Elise’s experience as a firefighter

(10:30) Her time assessing natural resource damage

(14:02) When and how she decided to go to graduate school

(16:39) Working as an Environmental Scientist for Churchill Consulting Engineers

(17:49) When Elise first became interested in nature

(19:05) Living in a house with other environmentalists during college

(23:30) Her experience researching in Kenya

(27:59) Getting stung by a scorpion in the desert

(33:07) How Elise’s priorities have changed

(34:57) Elise’s advice

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Intro music created by Muscle Tough. IG: @muscletoughband