Mini Grants as a Tool for Community Resilience

During the final year of my PhD, I have been thinking about the ecosystems I study, and about the ecosystems I am part of. I am a PhD Candidate in Marine Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill, where I work in a Quantitative Fisheries Ecology lab. My research focuses on understanding how marine communities change over time and how we can meaningfully quantify ecological stability. Studying community change requires thinking deeply about resilience, connection, and what it means to persist through shifting conditions and harsh environments. As I have moved through my dissertation work, I began asking those same questions of myself.

I joined Black Women in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Science (BWEEMS) during graduate school because I wanted a community where I belong and where my identity is valued and celebrated. What I found in BWEEMS was sisterhood, creativity, laughter, accountability, and a reminder that being a scientist does not require shrinking any part of myself to fit. The BWEEMS Mini Grant supported me at a pivotal moment in my PhD journey and I am so thankful to BWEEMS for this award. The financial relief during the already demanding period of work made it possible for me to remain on track for my degree and gave me the space to be a better scientist, colleague, and community member. During this time, I completed and submitted my second dissertation chapter for publication entitled “Temporal beta diversity reveals negative coupling of variability and directionality.” This work was supported by a BWEEMS Mini Grant, which helped me remain grounded and focused while completing a major phase of my dissertation research. The support from this award was not abstract, it genuinely meant I could think more clearly, rest more honestly, and show up to my research and my community with my full self present.

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My research examines global marine ecosystems to understand how and why communities change and what patterns of stability or instability can tell us about ecological resilience. I study these questions across multiple regions and decades, using long-term fisheries datasets to trace how ecological relationships reorganize through time. The work is large-scale and data-driven, but at its heart, it is about systems under pressure, shifting in response to stress, and the emergence of new states of balance. In many ways, the work mirrors the experience of being a Black woman in science. We navigate systems that change around us, sometimes unevenly, sometimes abruptly, while we learn to build and maintain stability of our own. BWEEMS has been a space where stability is not only studied, but also practiced, taught, and celebrated. A place where we can rest, vent, celebrate, and build with others who understand the weight and the joy of this work. A place where we are reminded that we are not alone.

I am grateful for the mini grant, not only because of the financial support, but because of the message it carried: that my work and my wellbeing matter. This grant is a form of support that significantly strengthens the resilience of our whole the whole community.

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Thank you BWEEMS! 

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