Jennifer Hill Ph.D.

Also I should add that thanks to this article, now every time I visit the Pacific Northwest, my brain is thinking “don’t you dare Mr. Fault line…..”

I have my marine bio students read this article every class because we discuss formation of coasts and oceans. It’s a great article and none of them know about this fault line. Wonderful writing!

When you can hang upside down by your toes Mr. Squirrel off the eaves of our roof, I can’t be anything but impressed. Also that is spicy bird cake, so apparently you are also a Cajun squirrel

Hey academic friends. You know something ChatGPT does well: it can make you an excel file of all your class dates so you can update your class calendars for fall. You’re welcome.

So now we are back to periwinkle climbing studies this afternoon. This experiment is classic predator cue study to see if crushed conspecifics, predator urine, or the combination of a predator eating crushed conspecifics elicit similar climbing responses.

This week we did some cercarial shedding studies with our periwinkles to see if trematode parasites might be impacting our snail behavior experiments. But after a rate of 1 in 90 snails with a trematode infection, I think that answer is a hard no

Raccoon eyes peaking over leaves

Baby raccoon in fig tree

Cute and fat little evening visitors to our fig tree.

Speak up for Sea Grant!

A blue poster describing opportunities to join the Bernhardt Lab -- for more information please see https://www.bernhardtlab.org/join-us

✨ The Bernhardt Lab at the University of Guelph is recruiting graduate students for 2026! Join us! We have several fully funded grad positions available ✨

Please spread the word!

www.bernhardtlab.org/join-us

#CSEE2025

an elderly woman knitting with the words oh my sweet summer child below her ALT: an elderly woman knitting with the words oh my sweet summer child below her

My undergrads did some initial packing for our trip to the coast this weekend.
1 pair of scissors, 1 sharpie, 1 pencil.
Sweet summer children …….
Now I duplicate all the things and throw in lots of just in cases

I need this mug!

Help us record firefly flashes! 👇🙏

The fact that this is going in about an hour down the highway from me is gut punching.

My thought is always “should I tell them the real answer?….”

RFK Jr.’s attack on vaccine experts endangers every American “Our nation’s top health official cannot be trusted to protect America’s children and their families,” writes Richard Besser, pediatrician and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"These are scientists, physicians, epidemiologists & other experts who are honored to serve their country because they care deeply about public health." @richbesser.bsky.social in defense of #ACIP and on the risks posed by political interference in its critical work. www.statnews.com/2025/06/10/a...

Career planning in an era of scientific disinvestment Know not just the destination and the route, but all the other features on the map

In a time when support for junior scientists is disappearing, how can you plan for a career in STEM? I think it starts by thinking of science as a big map with many routes and destinations, instead of a pipeline. 🧪

scienceforeveryone.science/p/career-pla...

Predator Zinfandel is so good

As a conservation scientist, I am perhaps more used to the idea of “wow, a neat visualization of some fucking horrible disaster” than some of the scientists on my feed seem to be.

But yeah this is a great visual

A giant of predator prey ecology who will be missed. I only met him once as a post doc, but for an ecological icon he was kind, encouraging, and said my work investigating fear based trophic cascades in seagrass systems was cool (which still ranks up there as one of my highest badges of honor).

Excel has always been an issue although now the learning curve seems to be worse. And I agree with the different formats. I had two students I had to teach how to download how to download to different file formats. They were both juniors.

My guess:
During Covid, LA schools figured out everyone didn’t have equal access to technology.
Solution: everyone now gets chromebooks at many grade levels

Unintended consequences: students no longer know how to operate outside google universe. And PowerPoint functions are more diverse….

Teacher friends:
Anyone else noticing the decline of skills in or general knowledge of how to use PowerPoint or other Microsoft programs?
This is the first year I can remember when I said “use animation” and the students looked at me like I had 3 heads.

YouTube video by indusieumgresium Scientific Peer Review, ca. 1945

Write methods and results first.

And sometimes if the reviews look particularly frustrating, I send them this video to let them know the peer review can be so infuriating and frustrating and we have all been there. It’s not just a them problem. Humor helps.

youtu.be/-VRBWLpYCPY

This is amazing. Parrots making video calls! Now I feel like I need a parrot…..

a black and white photo of a boy covering his ears with his hands and the words `` make it stop ! '' ALT: a black and white photo of a boy covering his ears with his hands and the words `` make it stop ! ''

We had a faculty member spill silicon in his lab and in his effort to clean it up managed to spread it into the hallway. Then the custodians managed to spread it around the whole hall in their cleaning.

Everyone’s shoes in the hall now loudly squeak like it’s been raining outside CONSTANTLY.

Dog staring out a window

Evening squirrel patrol.

One of my colleague’s grants was on the list today.😡😡😡

Useful free webinar for ecology trainees tomorrow:

a man wearing sunglasses and a scarf is taking a picture of himself ALT: a man wearing sunglasses and a scarf is taking a picture of himself

Told my students to wait til after ANS day to talk about summer research plans. The day after ANS day two emails from my students…..
I’m going to go hide under my desk. It’s true what they say “I will have more time after x” is a LIE.

More presentations again at our college research symposium, ANS day. My student Ayden Thomas got 1st place amongst 30ish biology posters!

Congrats Ayden!

(And thanks for keeping the lab ANS day winning streak going!)