Lots of fish live in the streams and rivers of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Lots of humans live in this region, too. With many more humans expected to move to the Southern Appalachians in the coming years, how can we understand what stream fish need to survive and adjust our behavior so that fish and humans can coexist in this place? This podcast seeks to answer those questions, while providing a glimpse at the inner workings of a research project. In this episode, I introduce the region, it's inhabitants, and the problem at hand. I also describe important aspects of the audio documentary - such as explaining complicated concepts in every day language - and my intentions for future episodes. Follow along as a real-world research project attempts to find a solution for fish and humans in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.  

Episode 2 | One Idea to Rule them All

What is a dissertation? How do you design a research project? What will your work actually do for people and freshwater ecosystems in Southern Appalachia? I’ve heard each of these questions so many times - from friends and family, from my advisors at my university, even from myself - that they sometimes haunt my dreams. In this episode, I discuss how I approached the development of my dissertation research project, including (to use a phrase from one of my advisory committee members) how I settled on “one idea to rule them all,” and how I designed each chapter of my dissertation to address the One Idea from different, but complimentary angles.