 What is your current job and what does it entail?
I am a graduate student researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD. I work at the Sensory Biophysics Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Adrianus J. Kalmijn. My main focus is the study of sensory systems of aquatic animals, in particular the electric sense of sharks and rays.
As a graduate student, your primary goal is to produce an original piece of knowledge that will enrich the scientific knowledge and hopefully will give you a good start for your subsequent professional life. In that respect, I am trying to understand the behavioral and nervous mechanisms behind the recognition of different biologically relevant patterns in the electric environment of fish. That effort is not only targeted to provide a better understanding of the very effective elasmobranch's use of electric fields in the ocean to detect prey, to orient with respect to the oceanic currents, and to orient with respect to the magnetic field of the earth, but also to expose basic mechanisms that may be used elsewhere in sensory perception.
This effort involves learning from previous work in this subject, done primarily by Dr. Kalmijn, and the realization of behavioral experiments in the ocean and in the laboratory. It also involves some computational work and the measurement and generation of electric fields in sea water. The main part of the work is in making electrophysiological measurements of nerve's responses. It entails long hours and almost non-stop caring about your research, but at the same time provides the freedom of choosing my hours and is never boring. Everyday is different, with new challenges and small breakthroughs. It requires a great deal of tolerance to frustration, lots of curiosity and a fascination for life, physics and the ocean.
What was the key factor in your career decision?
Physics, because of my need for structure and because that was the subject in which I received better grades in high school. Oceanography, because the scientific work that I want to do was possible in this oceanographic institution and because I love to live near the ocean. Since I was a kid, it has been a happy part of my life.
What do like most about your career?
Learning every day. The freedom and the passion that I feel when I work, even when it is putting a shelf in the lab, looking for a bug in the computer code, or assisting to a boring obligatory class. All these are small steps towards the big moments when you see something unique, when you can explain something that nobody understood.
What do you like least about your career?
Striving to obtain funds for my research and to pay the tuition and fees of the university.
What do you do to relax?
Practice my guitar, watch TV and do small projects at home. Hammock reading.
Who are your heroes/heroines?
El Chapulin Colorado
What advice would you give a high school student who expressed an interest in pursuing a career in your field?
Study physics and biology. Open your eyes to what is around you.
Are career opportunities in your field increasing or decreasing and why?
They are increasing in number, but decreasing in variety. Funding for basic research is decreasing, especially if you want to understand a system without obvious immediate application. Nevertheless, a degree in oceanography would be well rewarded in the industry, and a sensory biophysicist certainly has a good profile for drug, bio-tech and robotics companies.
What will you be doing 10 years from today?
I will be a scientist protected by the environment of the university, giving classes from 8 to 5 and doing research after hours, the director of an ecological reserve in South America, and the president of a volunteer program.
Salary:igonzalez@ucsd.edu
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