Q&A Nikki Canning
Describe your experience in applying to and selecting a graduate program.
I decided to get my master’s through reading postings for jobs with the Washington Department of Ecology. I knew it was the sort of work I wanted to transition into and saw that a master’s would help make me more competitive for entry-level positions and give me an edge as my career progressed. UW was the obvious choice, as a top-tier university right in my hometown.
How did SMEA first come across your radar? What were your impressions of the program?
I found out about SMEA through Googling UW graduate programs. I did a dual undergraduate degree in cultural studies and biology. Clicking through the student bios and admissions requirements, I could tell that my values and multidisciplinary educational background were a perfect fit. I also flipped through a couple theses from SMEA students, which showed me that the program offered the flexibility I needed to get the specific job skills I was after.
Tell us about your Thesis work…
It’s almost like a self-guided capstone. I am using ArcGIS to create interactive maps for Seattle high school students to explore publicly available environmental and sociological data in their own neighborhoods. Learning ArcGIS was one of my main goals for graduate school, so when that hadn’t fit into my schedule my first year, I decided to make it a component of my thesis. For my final product I’m going to have a web app for students to look at different data layers, and a lesson plan showing how to use it to explore variables explored in key research.
What has been your favorite class at UW so far? Why?
Isaac Rivera’s “Environmental Equity & Justice: Change Everything, Abolition Ecologies, and Indigenous Peoples’ Self-Determination,” which was a SMEA 550 course. I’ve never experienced so many transformative readings in such quick succession. For such a rigorous class, he also struck an amazing balance regarding written assignment workload and scheduled breaks. Honorable mentions to Ryan’s R class and Sunny’s econ and stats too, which have heavily informed my work since taking them.
What do you like most about SMEA?
I love the freedom SMEA has given me to build extremely diverse skillsets. I get to practice science communication through writing and editing for our official student blog, Currents. I learned R and ArcGIS Pro, essentially from scratch. I have gotten to do a little bit of design work making promotional materials for student groups and class projects. I even finally got to take economics, which I had always been curious about. SMEA gives students an incredible amount of leeway and resources to create their own path to a career.
Who is in your support network while you’re pursuing your MMA?
I finished all my core requirements last year, when classes were all online. I’m also a little bit older than most of my classmates and in a different phase of life. The time I get to see my colleagues most regularly is in Diversity Forum meetings, which have been an absolute life-saver. It’s always rejuvenating to joke around and organize with them every week. My partner also works remotely and is the main person I lean on. Honestly, we’ve played so much Mario Kart on breaks that Bowser and Waluigi are basically part of my support network too.