Roberto Ponce Velez
"Roberto arrived at Oregon State University with some hesitations. 'I’m a first-generation student, a first-generation Mexican American,' Roberto shares. 'I had years of experience in landscaping, so I had the work ethic, but I didn’t know how to navigate it all in college. It was lonely at first.' But Roberto also arrived with a passion for everything fish. 'Anyone who’s met me has realized that I’m obsessed with fly fishing.' With help from OSU opportunities like CAMP and the FWCS VIEW Fellowship, Roberto found his footing and went on to become OSU's first Goldwater & Udall Scholar, our 2025 FWCS Outstanding Student of the Year, a USFWS Pathways Intern, and now a funded graduate student at the University of Alaska.
Catie Boucher
I grew up in Southern California, in your typical suburb. My family wasn't particularly outdoorsy, but I loved animals. I spent hours poring over National Geographic for Kids and soaking up random fun facts about wildlife.
When I first started at Oregon State in Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences, I was set on wildlife rehabilitation. I thought rehabilitation and veterinary medicine were essentially the only ways to work with animals! Little did I know how much that perception would change over the next four years...
Student Stories
Read about our students and their experiences, challenges, and successes in the classroom and the field. You can read even more of our student stories here.
Matt Ramirez: Unlocking the Mysteries of Sea Turtles Using Their Bones
My research is focused on studying the factors that influence sea turtle growth rates and population dynamics, primarily through examination of the bones. I’m one of only a handful of people in the world who studies sea turtle bones.
Stephanie Schmidt: Wildgenetics
Bird Nerds at OSU: Blog
Ali Azevedo: Guarding Cheetahs
Jackie Delie (MS, '21): community-engaged conservation
Jackie completed her graduate studies with FWCS with a focus on human dimensions. She shares inspiring stories of community-engaged conservation projects across the globe. She has a spark for adventure with a drive to spur discussion and connect you to stories on conservation, human-nature relations, and cultural diversity. Through her website, she covers a variety of topics such as life as a graduate student and her experience rehabilitating howler monkeys in Panama.
GEMM Lab: Blog
Do you want to know about the ecology, behavior, health, and conservation of marine megafauna including cetaceans, pinnipeds, seabirds, and sharks? Then follow the GEMM Lab’s blog to read what students and researchers are learning, the conservation impacts of their studies, or just hear what life in the field and lab is like.
Highlighting Ecampus Student Stories
Read about our Ecampus students and their experiences, challenges, and successes in the classroom and the field. Are you an Ecampus student with a story to tell? Contact your advisor to find out how!
Julie Brinkman '18
Micah Ashford '18
Michah was a Postbaccalaureate Ecampus student, who studied while working and living in Barbados. Micah worked with the Barbados Sea Turtle Project, focusing on improving nesting habitat and reducing stressors on the critically endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle.
Read more about Micah's project and view the official website for the Barbados Sea Turtle Project.
Frank Nichols '13
Alen Mosley '16
Michael Fortier '16
"Like most non-traditional students my path was anything but a straight line. I had two prior careers: 10 years in the food service industry and 20 years active duty military service in the U.S. Coast Guard. Although I grew up in the inner city, I always had a love of the environment, but it was not a career "people like me" did. Joining the military helped change my negative self-image and gave me the economic opportunity to pursue an academic education."
Marissa Humphreys '16
While an Ecampus student in Utah, Marissa landed an internship with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which opened the door to many future jobs with state and federal government. Over the past few years, I have learned a few things about the wildlife field that I wish I had known beforehand. First, make connections and don't be afraid to ask questions. Second, don't be afraid to work the jobs that have nothing to do with the field that you are interested in..."
Lynne Hargett '17
"Prior to becoming an Ecampus student, I worked in the medical field while raising twin sons with my husband, taking classes at a community college, and volunteering with Point Reyes Bird Observatory. This volunteer work inspired me to move forward with my passion for a wildlife career. After 3 years of juggling it all, I received an AS degree and my sons graduated from high school. Though a milestone, I had not yet reached my final goal. I searched universities around the country offering online BS degrees related to wildlife conservation, and found OSU. My FWCS degree with Ecampus took me from a career focused on helping humans in a controlled environment, to a dynamic life of wildlife conservation in the natural world. It was an amazing academic experience that led me to my niche in life..."
Kathryn Herold-Daniels '21
"Growing up, I didn’t have anyone in my family who went to college - and no one in my community as an adult either - so I really had no one to ask about careers with animals. Although I wanted to be like Jane Goodall when I was a kid, I didn’t really know what she did other than that she lived with chimpanzees. As I got older, I thought the only career a person could have with animals was as a zookeeper or a veterinarian and I wasn’t interested in either of those. Nor was I interested in issuing hunting or fishing licenses which is what I thought “fish and wildlife” amounted to. Imagine my surprise when I found Oregon State’s Ecampus and their Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences degree program, which opened the door to a diverse career with wildlife"...
Heather Thomas, '25
Heather was a veteran with a background in EMT work, and wanted to transition to her passion: a career in conservation. Starting as an Ecampus student, and later transitioning to Corvallis campus, she landed her first research experience as a FWCS VIEW Fellow, researching mammalian genetics in the Epps Population Genetics Lab on the Corvallis campus with mentors Rachel Crowhurst, Paige Minton-Edison, and Dr. Clint Epps. After VIEW, she was hired as a lab assistant with her mentors' lab and is researching bighorn sheep genetics. She presented her research at the Oregon Chapter of The Wildlife Society conference, was sponsored to attend the national conference of The Wildlife Society, joined the College Leadership Academy, landed a research internship with the U.S. Geological Survey, and now works for an environmental consulting company.