Jeff Larkin
A summer job in college turned out to be more than a way for Jeff Larkin to earn some cash. It introduced him to a career in conservation biology. Learn more about him in this installment of Meet Our Faculty.
What is it about the biology field that initially drew you in—and ultimately keeps you interested?
I was initially drawn to biology while growing up along the western edge of the Adirondacks in New York. It was during this phase of my life that my parents promoted my curiosity about nature. However, it wasn’t until my junior year in undergraduate when I was hired as a summer research technician that I began to formally think about pursuing a career in conservation biology. Indeed, I was fortunate to have been provided incredible insights, inspiration, and opportunities by passionate undergraduate and graduate mentors.
There are three primary factors that keep me interested in practicing conservation biology: (1) my unquenchable curiosity about ecology; (2) conservation science is work that is desperately needed for the world’s biodiversity and human communities; and (3) I get immense satisfaction from helping students realize their passion for conservation biology and from providing them with similar insights, inspirations, and opportunities to what I was fortunate to receive as a student.
Why do you enjoy teaching in this discipline?
I enjoy teaching conservation biology and related topics because I find it both fun and incredibly important. I enjoy engaging with students and sharing with them my knowledge and experiences and, in that process, hopefully igniting excitement and confidence within them.
I am privileged to have a career that places me in direct contact with the youth of today as they transition into the professionals of tomorrow. This generation of students has been raised entirely within the climate crisis, which also comes with the constant reminder that they are tasked with developing solutions to a myriad of associated challenges. Preparing students to take on these challenges gives me great satisfaction.
What advice would you give students about how to succeed in college?
I think what it takes to succeed in college is a combination of discipline, smart decision making, work ethic, and not settling for simply earning a degree.
In my experience, successful students are serious about learning in the classroom and also about actively finding opportunities to develop and fuel a passion for their discipline of interest. Simply put, my advice to students is to dedicate themselves to working hard, to helping others, and when provided opportunities to showcase their skills and character, to do so with unbridled enthusiasm, commitment, and purpose.