Bird brainy

Sometimes, all it takes to have your life changed by RMBL is to take a walk with a scientist. When she was a freshman in high school, Savannah Troy visited relatives living in Crested Butte. During her stay, the family decided to take a scientist-guided tour at RMBL. On the tour, Savannah held a bird in her hand. That was when the lightbulb went on, and Savannah said, “I think I’ll be an ecologist!”

The next summer, she went back to RMBL to work with the kids’ camp. From then on, she was a regular. As a student at the University of Texas at Austin, she spent all four summers in the undergraduate program at RMBL, where she took a Rocky Mountain wildlife class, completed an independent research project, and went on to work as a research assistant in multiple lab groups at RMBL.

Now, she’s about to finish her PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology at the University of Florida, a venture that has taken her to the southern African country of Eswatini to study the response of bird communities to habitat degradation.

After earning her PhD, she’ll look for a post-doctoral research fellowship and plans to eventually become a professor. This summer, she’ll be teaching an undergraduate course at RMBL (the same one she took as an undergraduate) and is currently working on the syllabus with Dr. Rosemary Smith.

Why does RMBL keep pulling her back? It’s the wonderful community, she says. The scientists are supportive, collaborative, and willing to mentor others. It’s rare to find a field station with an infrastructure as well-developed as RMBL’s, not only in its facilities but also the above-and-beyond logistical support provided by the staff.

Finally, there’s RMBL’s unquestionably irresistible setting. Combine this with the groundbreaking work that has taken place here for decades, and it’s a no-brainer that so many students with a touch of curiosity about science can easily end up becoming researchers whose work makes an indelible impact on our understanding of the world.

Savannah Troy received bachelor’s degrees in Biology and French from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. She will receive her PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida in August, 2025, and is advised by Dr. Robert Fletcher. Her dissertation research focuses on bird community responses to habitat degradation in southern African savannas. Besides researching birds, she loves teaching, hiking, and making pottery.