{"id":5177,"date":"2016-07-10T15:06:58","date_gmt":"2016-07-10T22:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/?p=5177"},"modified":"2016-07-10T15:06:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T22:06:58","slug":"middendorf-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/2016\/07\/middendorf-george\/","title":{"rendered":"George Middendorf"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>From an \u201cEcologist Directory\u201d maintained by the ESA Education Office about 2004-2005. Profile circa 2004.<\/em><br>\n<strong>Degree<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ph.D.<br>\n<strong>Position<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Professor<br>\n<strong>Department<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Biology Department<br>\n<strong>Organization<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Howard University, Washington DC<br>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5171 img-fluid\" style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/george_middendorf_profile.gif\" alt=\"george_middendorf_profile\" width=\"170\" height=\"190\"><br>\n<strong>When did you get interested in ecology? \u00a0Who was most influential in guiding you into ecology?<\/strong><br>\nI got interested in the potential of a career in ecology through participation in the NSF URP (Undergraduate Research Participation) program. The present-day equivalent is the NSF REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) Program. I spent the summer working studying chipmunks at Hubbard Brook with Gary Potter and Dr. Richard Holmes (Dartmouth College). Prior to that summer experience I hadn\u2019t really ever considered such a career!<br>\n<strong>Describe your route to a career in (or using) ecology. What challenges did you need to overcome? What was your training, and what positions have you held?<\/strong><br>\nMy initial career interests were in Animal Behavior and because of my Psychology major (along with a variety of Biology courses that I took in my junior and senior years), I enrolled in a graduate Psychology program at City University of New York. I took behavior and ecology courses at Hunter College, City University, and the American Museum of Natural History\u2014and began behavioral studies of lizards in Arizona where I became very interested, again, in ecological influences on behavior. When I also realized that lizard psychology was probably not going to be a field with high demand, I finished my master\u2019s degree in New York and went on to get my Ph.D. degree in Zoology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, did a postdoc at the University of Iowa, and then began teaching at Howard University.<br>\n<strong>How did you learn about ecological careers? \u00a0What is your position title now?<\/strong><br>\nI learned about careers in ecology through the URP program mentioned above. I currently am a professor of Biology at Howard University in Washington, DC. I teach a variety of courses, including at the undergraduate level: Ecology, Animal Behavior, Environmental Studies, Herpetology and Science &amp; Public Policy and at the graduate level: Ecological and Environmental Biology.<br>\n<strong>What key advice would you offer a student today?<\/strong><br>\nMy key advice to students is fairly straightforward: Follow your heart. Figure out what you enjoy doing; you\u2019ll be doing an awful lot of it. Figure out how you can have a positive impact; you\u2019ll want to be able to look back later in life with a sense of accomplishment.<br>\n\u00a0<br>\n<span style=\"border-radius: 2px;text-indent: 20px;width: auto;padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px;text-align: center;font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;color: #ffffff;background: #bd081c  no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px;cursor: pointer\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From an \u201cEcologist Directory\u201d maintained by the ESA Education Office about 2004-2005. Profile circa 2004. Degree\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ph.D. Position\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Professor Department\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Biology Department Organization\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Howard University, Washington DC When did you get interested in ecology? \u00a0Who was most influential in guiding you into ecology? I got interested in the potential of a career in ecology through participation in the NSF URP&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,155,165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biographies","category-ecologist-directory","category-personal-accounts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}