Charlotte Hacker Interview: Elephants, Snow Leopards, and Being Persistent

In this episode of the Fancy Scientist podcast, I interview scientist and blogger Charlotte Hacker. Charlotte is a Ph.D. candidate who uses non-invasive genetics through scat (poop) to study snow leopard populations in China. We talk all about her snow leopard research and journey to become a scientist.

This is a fantastic episode to listen to if you are an aspiring wildlife biologist or scientist! Charlotte talks about all of the pivots she had to make on her way to become a scientist. Learn how she bounced back from failing in her college courses and what she did when her Master’s research was cancelled THE moment she started graduate school. 

This is a fantastic episode to listen to if you are an aspiring wildlife biologist or scientist! Charlotte talks about all of the pivots she had to make on her way to become a scientist. Learn how she bounced back from failing in her college courses and what she did when her Master’s research was cancelled THE moment she started graduate school. 

• Charlotte’s snow leopard research: What she is studying and how she uses scat to study snow leopards
• What snow leopards are eating and human-wildlife conflict
• Charlotte’s journey to become a scientist – what inspired her and how she bounced back from almost failing out of college
• The lack of role models for female scientists when we were growing up)
• How Charlotte was determined to study elephants, but ended up with research on snow leopards
• How Charlotte approached studying elephants for graduate school and her experience contacting professors
• What happened when Charlotte’s Master’s research immediately was taken away from her when she just arrived to start!
• Why Charlotte started blogging and that most of us scientists are more artsy than people think
• What Charlotte does as a side hustle
• Words of wisdom from Charlotte for aspiring wildlife biologists

Get the full show notes here: https://stephanieschuttler.com/charlotte-hacker/

Get a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” here: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/

Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ 

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