ABOUT ME
Tamara Layden (she | they)
Ecology PhDÂ student
Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
Colorado State University
I am socio-ecological scientist with a background in terrestrial and freshwater habitat monitoring, population and community ecology, avian conservation, and environmental justice. I am a holistic learner, addressing my environment and research from a broad and intersectional lens.
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I consider academic ecological science to be a single subset of knowledge that can be used to understand components of our environment. To fully understand and support thriving landscapes requires ethical collaborations that engage multiple ways of knowing. However, in practice, academic science and conservation have predominantly caused harm to local communities through perpetuating settler colonialism on a regional and global-scale. As a South Asian researcher and women I recognize that all of our fates are intertwined - with each other, our environment, and our animal neighbors - and therefore strive to employ a critical lens in an effort to actively disrupt the colonial practices and ideologies that remain embedded in the field.
BACKGROUND
Throughout my years as an ecologist, I have interwoven academic studies with professional trainings and practice. My first exposure to conservation research was through the Audubon Society of Portland where I participated in numerous projects that supported avian conservation and healthy landscapes. Alongside this experience, I completed my undergraduate studies at Oregon State University, where I led research investigating parasite-host interactions in freshwater streams in collaboration with the Novak Lab team. Here, I gained valuable experience leading team field work, independently developing and conducting laboratory methods, and extensively reviewing literature. In my role managing the Fey Lab at Reed College, I developed expertise as a research coordinator by directing over 50 lab and field projects, mentoring undergraduate students, analyzing and presenting findings, and facilitating cross-institutional and interdisciplinary partnerships. I also employed interdisciplinary methods, inclusive of modeling, experimental, and observational approaches.
Alongside my formal research roles, I have contributed and led several social justice efforts in the field, including graduating from the Environment 2042 leadership program, an intensive racial equity training with the Center for Diversity and the Environment (CDE), becoming a member of CDE's Environmental Professionals of Color leadership team, driving racial equity efforts on the Portland Parks and Recreation Board, facilitating community-centered efforts on the Oregon Zoo's Community Advocacy Council, and co-creating the first paid Belongingness Intern Recognizing Diversity (BIRD) internship at Reed College. More recently, I co-led a collaborative effort in environmental justice in the Arctic, working to promote indigenous land protections in the face of oil drilling. All of these initiatives and experiences have since been propagated into my role as a graduate researcher.