Vicky Erickson
Vicky Erickson
Current Position
Regional Geneticist, USDA Forest Service
Previous Position
Forester, USDA Forest Service.
Education
B.S. (Forest Management) M.S.
Q & A
I'd start with the fundamentals; people absolutely need to have strong capabilities in terms of communicating, writing, talking with people, basic human skills. Math is certainly needed for the field as well as a good background in natural resources.
There's going to be a huge gap with people heading for retirement. There will be tremendous opportunities in the near future for upcoming graduates, and the student career experience program will pay tuition to select universities.
I'm constantly juggling priorities between utilizing time and tackling problems. Despite declining budgets and workforce there's never less to do. We have to get everything done by prioritizing.
I'm doing something different almost everyday. During the summer I try to get out in the field as much as I can, and I get to work with a lot of different people with diverse backgrounds. Things are changing so fast, and the kind of work I do is always changing; it is a challenge just to keep up.
