Jennie Paul

I started in the field around 2016, so I've been doing this work for about 10 years now. My undergraduate degree was in geography, which I got in Nigeria. During my third year, I went for an internship at Aplori, a research institute for birds, and that's where I really started looking at conservation work. I was fortunate to work with Dr. Salama Tufada and Dr. Jason Ta, who mentored me and nurtured my passion for conservation. Through their help, I was able to start up and support different programs. I started doing sustainable waste management in my department and also served as a board member in the Better Health Foundation Kids, where we taught kids sustainable environmental education. After that, I went to YOLA and started setting up bird clubs and school clubs. I was teaching sustainable waste management, bird identification, and showing students how to make money out of the waste they generated in their schools. From there, I came to IRSC for my master's degree, and after that, I came to Florida for my doctorate degree. Right now, I've been in my current role as a PhD candidate for just 2 years and 8 months. As a TA, I grade students and do my research on the side. I'm working on my dissertation, which focuses on developing a framework for empathy-driven environmental education in kids. I'm comparing data between natural settings, artificial, and semi-natural environments. This work has never been done before, so that's something I'm really excited about. I've also developed a Shiny app that helps people run their own statistical analyses. Once they put their data in, the app runs the analysis for them, shows them p-values, does regression if needed, and displays statistics like bar graphs and line charts. It also has a GIS component where you can see the distribution of your data points.