Swimming in a Sea of Knowledge
By Ricky Hayes- public relations intern
Reading a book a day kept Jeff Price’s interest in science climbing ever higher. He had a stack of library books by his bed. By the time he reached the fourth grade, he was reading from high school biology texts.
Price was also a competitive swimmer. When he wasn’t swimming, he was reading. He is now an assistant professor at Chico State in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, and a Senior Fellow for climate change in biodiversity for the United National Environmental Program World Conservation Monitoring Center.
In his position, Price travels to countries to help educate policy makers on climate change and biodiversity.
Jacques Cousteau, who made a TV series introducing the public to underwater life beginning in 1968, fed Price’s curiosities growing up as well, which is the path that he encourages students to take in their science endeavors.
“Find what interests you,” Price said. “Find what excites you and stick with it.”
What Price hopes is that the Center for Ecosystem Research (CER) helps motivate students to find and pursue what excites their interests. But as of now, Price said CER is just beginning to grow into a flourishing organization.
Price said he hopes CER can gain more equipment and lab space for research teams. CER is going to need plenty of space for teams to build ideas and theories from data. Science is no longer about the individual working in a “back alley” lab somewhere. And it takes awhile to learn how to work mutually in teams for a common goal like sustainability.
“It’s become a buzz word,” Price said. “People aren’t thinking big picture about sustainability.”
Price said what might be sustainable for a park isn’t sustainable for an organization. This is why scientists need to work together to work on solving these kinds of problems. This is where CER comes in.
“It looks good on paper,” Price said. “It’s going to continue to get better and better.”