Graduate Student Spotlight: Hailey Machnikowski

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What is the name of your research project? 

Comparing strategies for wetland revegetation in an uncertain water future

Why did you choose this research project?

I'm interested in improving restoration outcomes given changing water availability from climate change and anthropogenic impacts.

What motivates you to study your area of research?

I had been working in ecological restoration for three years before starting my degree and have seen positive impacts of restoration. I want to help improve those results and increase the capacity for restoration in a changing world.

What do you want to do after you earn your degree?

I'd like to work in wetland restoration as a project manager or land manager, but I'd also like to be mentoring people that are coming into the restoration field and helping them get their careers started.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about choosing your field of study?

Field work, field work, field work! My undergraduate degree was unrelated to ecology and all of my background knowledge was from restoration technician jobs. If you plan to go into applied research, prior field experience is so valuable because it gives you a sense of what current practices are, how they're working, and the confines that practitioners have to work within.