{"id":5351,"date":"2016-07-15T18:37:48","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T01:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/?p=5351"},"modified":"2016-07-15T18:37:48","modified_gmt":"2016-07-16T01:37:48","slug":"middleton-beth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/2016\/07\/middleton-beth\/","title":{"rendered":"Beth A. Middleton"},"content":{"rendered":"

From a \u201cFocus on Ecologists\u201d maintained by the ESA Education Office about 2009-2011.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Full Name<\/td>\nBeth A. Middleton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Degree<\/td>\nPhD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Job Position<\/td>\nResearch Ecologist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Organization<\/td>\nNational Wetlands Research Center<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Department<\/td>\nForest Ecology<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Professional Affiliation<\/td>\nAcademic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Research Discipline<\/td>\nBiogeography, Botany, Disturbance Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Plant Ecology, Wetlands Ecology<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Research Habitat<\/td>\nWetlands<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Research Organism<\/td>\nFreshwater plants<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Describe what you do and briefly describe the activities that your job encompasses<\/td>\nI work on the effects of climate change on wetland function and biodiversity. My work in the U.S. is in sedge meadows and baldcypress swamps in Wisconsin and the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley. Research takes me various places around the world including India, Turkey, Belize, and Costa Rica.
\nSee http:\/\/profile.usgs.gov\/professional\/mypage.php?name=middletonb<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
What do you love most about your job?<\/td>\nScience is a way of knowing that is not possible using any other approach.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
For each degree you\u2019ve obtained, list the degree, field, and institution.<\/td>\nIowa State University, Department of Botany, Ph.D., 1989
\nUniversity of Minnesota (Duluth), Department of Biology, M.S., 1983.
\nUniversity of Wisconsin (Madison), Department of Botany, B.S., 1978<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Briefly describe your job path.<\/td>\nI made a straight-line move to my career path. I\u2019ve wanted to be a botanist since I saw my first wild plants in the woods when I was about 4 or 5 years old.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
What challenges did you need to overcome?<\/td>\nI was the first person in my family to go to college. I didn\u2019t have financial or social support for what I wanted to do.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
What\u2019s one thing you hope to do in the future?<\/td>\nI hope to continue to do what I do.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How do you describe your job when you meet people at a party?<\/td>\nWhile my job is to save the world, swamp work is not for everyone.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
What is your family background and what did they think of your career choice?<\/td>\nMy family was not at all supportive of what I wanted to do because they had no experience with professional careers. They were not supportive until the day I graduated with my Ph.D.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Who or what inspired you to become a scientist (or other profession)?<\/td>\nJohn Muir and the Lodi Marsh.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Who currently inspires you?<\/td>\nJohn Muir, Mohatma Gandhi.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
What is the most valuable advice a mentor gave you or that you would offer to someone who\u2019d like to do the same job as you?<\/td>\nStudents are often discouraged from doing what they want to do as a career, and science students are often told that there are no jobs in science. I point out to students that I was told the same thing but I didn\u2019t listen. If you have a dogged passion about what you do, you will find a way to support yourself in your chosen profession.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
What would you like people to remember about your life as a scientist (or other profession)?<\/td>\nMy research is connected to nature.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How do you feel your work has contributed to society?<\/td>\nMy flood pulsing work shows that you can\u2019t restore wetlands without restoring the dynamic forces of hydrology, i.e., wetlands need to flood.
\nSee: http:\/\/profile.usgs.gov\/professional\/mypage.php?name=middletonb<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Award Name<\/td>\nSociety of Wetland Scientists Merit Award for the book \u201cWetland Restoration, Flood Pulsing and Disturbance Dynamics\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Year originally profiled.<\/td>\n2009<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Year profile was last updated.<\/td>\n2010<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a \u201cFocus on Ecologists\u201d maintained by the ESA Education Office about 2009-2011. Full Name Beth A. Middleton Degree PhD Job Position Research Ecologist Organization National Wetlands Research Center Department Forest Ecology Professional Affiliation Academic Research Discipline Biogeography, Botany, Disturbance Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Plant Ecology, Wetlands Ecology Research Habitat Wetlands Research Organism Freshwater plants Describe what you do and briefly…<\/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-5351","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\/5351","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=5351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}