[music playing] My name is Erica Smithwick, and I am a field scientist and a professor.

I was always interested in science.

I always knew I wanted to do something with the environment, but I wasn't quite sure how they would come together.

And I think growing up in the woods, growing up outside of a farm, I kind of knew that I liked being outside.

And the more I thought about what I wanted to do, the more I thought I want to understand it better.

But I wasn't sure which field of science I wanted to do.

But then the geologist stood up and talked about the formation of the Earth and the stories around volcanoes, and I was hooked with that.

But the geology degree at the university I went to offered you the opportunity to do environmental studies as an overlay, so I actually double majored in both of those.

And that kind of combination of learning about how the world works through deep time, but then also understanding how the current environment is shaped, really got me hooked.

Traveled as a study abroad student to Australia and New Zealand, and that sense of independence, of being able to observe the natural world and make reflections on it, was very exciting to me.

And so I've never really lost that drive.

What's interesting is that it's an accumulated number of experiences, so there's no one direct path to becoming a field scientist.

I think it's being open to those experiences, finding opportunities to engage in the natural world and become an observer, but also be trained in other kinds of skills.

Right now, to be a field scientist, it's also beneficial to have skills in computer science, in fact, or in the digital arts or in writing.

These are all really important skills to be a field scientist.

So for me, I moved around quite a lot in my education.

I, again, didn't know where I would end up.

Was always open to this idea of becoming a researcher and a field scientist and a professor, but that seemed very far off.

So I would say the advice is to just take it step by step and keep following your passion.

I know people say this all the time, and sometimes it doesn't work out, but for me, it was really just learning at each stage and figuring out, OK, I like doing this, I'm going to keep doing this, and then pivoting a little bit more.

So to become a field scientist, it is very important to have higher education.

So I have a bachelor of science, I have a master's of science and I have a PhD.

And I followed that sequential path of education pretty nonstop.

But I know a lot of scientists who took breaks along the way.

For me, going to different places through that education was really important to keep me engaged and keep me along that path.

Frankly, I just loved learning, and so it was pretty easy for me to keep engaged in the higher education space.

But there are lots of other ways that you can become a field scientist as well.

Right now, a lot of my colleagues are actually working in industry or in federal agencies or in non-governmental organizations and are doing field science, and some of those can have a bachelor's degree.

If you get a master's degree, that's particularly important.

And then you have the opportunity as well to do a PhD, which will help you down the line for advancement.

Pennsylvania is an amazing place to do field science, whether it's studying the forests, whether it's studying the rivers and understanding how the rivers are affecting the Chesapeake Bay and the broader region's water quality, whether it's understanding the long history of the geology of the Appalachian Mountain chain or whether it's trying to understand how we're grappling with climate change and how we're thinking about our agricultural resources across the state.

I mean, all of those domains require science.

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