Queens Alumna is Expanding Horizons with Innovative Research

For more than three years, Emma Schultz ’14 has been engaged in cutting-edge research using simulation models to determine how best to use drones for wildlife surveys. As a doctoral student at Mississippi State University, her findings, which involve replicating millions of scenarios and using the data collected, help other researchers implement effective survey strategies using drones to monitor animals in their natural landscapes.

“Coming into this position, I saw this as an opportunity to expand my horizons in terms of my research skills,” Schultz said. “Now being able to write computer code — something I had never done before — and learning about innovative technologies, I hope to take that information forward with me in my career to conduct meaningful research.”

Schultz acknowledges that Queens instilled in her the desire to continuously learn and explore beyond her typical boundaries. The John Belk International Program (JBIP) at Queens, for example, allowed her to travel to South Africa.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” she said. “It really ingrained in me a desire to continue pursuing international travel and think at a global scale. Those trips are valuable opportunities where students gain real-world, hands-on experiences.”

Schultz came to Queens after growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland, to continue playing softball while pursuing a pre-veterinary undergraduate degree. The intimate campus and small class sizes, the city of Charlotte, and the camaraderie of the softball team drew her in once she was enrolled.

Majoring in biology, Schultz joined the pre-vet medicine program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Along the way, she added a business minor and a psychology minor, which opened other potential avenues of interest. Then, after completing a few veterinary internships, she decided to shift her goals and pursue other career paths.

During her senior year, she yearned to take a marine biology class that required two field trip labs that — due to her softball commitments — she wouldn’t be able to complete. But, she took the course anyway as a pass/fail option and she’s forever glad she did.

“Taking that class really altered my career path,” Schultz said.

After Queens, Schultz went to Savannah State University (SSU) in Georgia. At SSU, she was immersed in researching the genetics, nesting, and movement patterns of green sea turtles in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Armed with her master’s in marine sciences in 2016, Schultz worked for the next few years in various roles: as a protected species observer; a marine science center educator; a sea turtle biologist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources; and a contractor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as the assistant coordinator for the Mississippi Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.

Schultz was recently honored as a distinguished scholar in Mississippi State’s Graduate School Hall of Fame. The pursuit of her doctoral degree demonstrates her enduring motivation for learning and personal growth.

“I decided that I wanted to diversify the research I was doing and also see what other opportunities a Ph.D. might provide for more of a managerial or programmatic research role,” she said.

Additionally, Schultz consistently applies the valuable team-building and leadership skills she learned while at Queens. Last year, she served as president of her department’s Graduate Student Association at Mississippi State where she aimed to create that same sense of community she experienced in Charlotte.

She said, “We’re not a ‘team’ in the sports sense but, as graduate students, we are a team and we’re all trying to accomplish many of the same goals. Queens helped me develop a servant leadership style in everything I do. I want to create that sense of community and foster it wherever I go.”

For the time being, Schultz is often found working behind a computer more than she is out in the field. But that could change after her anticipated Ph.D. completion this year.

“I would love to get back into work focused on threatened and endangered species, hopefully with a federal agency, either as a research biologist or a manager/project lead.”

By Nicole Ward Beckley