Interdisciplinary Research - A Practice in Finding More Doors to Bring People to the Table

As a student studying both Environmental Biology and Anthropology, I have spent my undergraduate years literally navigating between the natural and social sciences. I know the fastest route between the buildings is through Trombley Square and takes 4.5 minutes. I know that taking the back route around the library is a tad longer, but a safer bet for avoiding running into people I know who might make me more late to class than I already am.  I’ve walked door to door more times than I can count. However, this summer, I have learned to navigate interdisciplinary life in a less literal and more applied fashion, which thankfully doesn’t have me running across campus all day. It’s left me knowing that in research having a multidisciplinary lens leaves you with many doors to open and charges you with the task of finding out which path between them all is the approach you want to take to discover something new and invite people in.

How to Get to Know Kayleigh DeBruyne: A Checklist

My post this week is a tad late because I was fittingly distracted doing the things I love (see #1, #2, #5, #6 and #7). This left me with much inspiration for writing this post, but also at a loss for how to convey it. I’ve decided to present you with a quick list of things to do to get to know me. This allows me to share my interests with you while also perhaps being a helpful resource for the people in the area I hope to cross paths with this summer. So, without further ado, I present to you How to Get to Know Kayleigh DeBruyne: A Checklist. 

Curiosity and Questions: A Methodology for Accessing Our Greatest Resource

How do you transform a problem into solutions? This is what I want to know. But if a straightforward answer existed I feel like more of us would be screaming it from the rooftops and making spending every living moment doing it and the world would be a happier, cleaner, safer place. But that doesn’t exist. The answer is elusive, complex and specific for different issues. So where does one even begin?

Finding Home Amongst the Wisconsin Waterways

As the ETA on my Google Maps navigation drew closer and closer and my road trip to Menomonie approached the end, my heart beat faster in anticipation of seeing the place I would soon call my summer home. Traveling to Wisconsin for the season isn’t a new feeling for me. Wisconsin lakes and rivers have actually been the main character of my summer for years. A homegrown Hoosier (aka a gal from Indiana, and no, we don’t really know what it means either), I’ve spent the past four summers trekking north to work at a camp leading canoeing trips in the northernmost reaches of the state . These experiences in the Northwoods have been instrumental in forming my relationship with the environment and teaching me how to build community. I choose the LAKES program because I wanted to spend another summer revolving around lakes, watersheds and the formation of communities, but from a new angle. Finally arriving in Menomonie I stepped out of the car into the hot, humid air and have been surprised ever since by one, how Wisconsin can be so hot in early June, but more importantly, how a place can feel equally new and like home all at once.