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Andrea Reid
Incoming Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
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If you don't ask, the answer is always no!
WHAT DO YOU DO?
I work in partnership with Indigenous communities to find solutions to important fisheries problems. I work across rivers, lakes, and oceans – boating, swimming, and diving – to study culturally-significant fish and associated fisheries with the ultimate aim of better understanding and protecting them in the face of rapid global change.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS FIELD?
I grew up in small, coastal fishing village in Canada where I spent as much time as I could on the beach, swimming, searching for rocks and shells, and exploring. The moment I realized in university that I could be an aquatic scientist and study fish and be on the water for a living, I was hooked!
WHAT DO YOU LOOK AT & THINK, "I WISH YOUNGER ME WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WAS POSSIBLE?"
For me, this was becoming a National Geographic Explorer. I grew up loving the magazine – reading and dreaming as I leafed through each issue – not realizing until my mid-twenties that it could be me and my work featured on those pages one day. Discovering the Early Career Grants program was a game-changer and a foot in the door with an incredible institution and community of explorers.
WHY DO YOU LOVE WORKING IN STEM?
Being an aquatic scientist means that I get to spend A LOT of time doing what I love most: being on and in the water, searching for marvellous, strange, and remarkable fish.
BEST ADVICE FOR NEXT GENERATION?
Don't count yourself out. Always apply. If you don't ask, the answer is always no!
INSPO / FUN FACT
"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home" Gary Snyder