Meet the fellows: Kat Brydson

Hi! My name is Kat Brydson (they/them), and I am a third-year Environmental Studies major with minors in Black Studies and American Indigenous Studies. I am also a member of the FUERTE F1 cohort and I currently work with SBC LTER and The Hofmann lab! This blogpost creates a window into what propelled me to apply for FUERTE in the first place and how it has helped me navigate my undergraduate experience here at UCSB and the lessons it has helped me learn along the way. 

Two years ago, when I decided to go to UCSB, I did not factor in the school’s size or what kind of resources and opportunities would be available. I had two simple criteria on my mind: how I wanted to study the ocean and how southern California is the farthest possible destination from Connecticut. So it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I suffered some serious whiplash when I traded in my 20-person classes in high school for a gen-chem lecture of 300 kids. 

I felt so lost. No longer an individual, but another number among the 23,000 other undergrads. I thought my studies would lead me knee-deep in the Pacific by now, but the only place I was led to was the library to do my 10,000th stoichiometry equation. When I heard about FUERTE, a small, 3-year program that ushers you into the world of conservation science, I had to first make sure my eyes were not deceiving me, and second, apply. 

As a neurodivergent individual, any task or lesson seems pointless unless I understand the why behind it. For example, it felt impossible for me to complete my chem homework because I didn’t understand why this stoichiometry equation was going to further my education in marine conservation. FUERTE connected me to a community of peers and mentors alike that not only led me towards the why behind scientific research that often felt so inaccessible and mystifying to me, but the why behind my journey to California in the first place. 

Understanding this why gave me a new perspective and confidence. I found that with science being such an objective field of study, it’s so easy to leave your individuality behind. But arriving as an individual, brings forth a different level of connection and curiosity to one’s team and work. Because at the end of the day, what’s  the point of science if it’s not synthesized in a way that connects individuals and spurs action.  

With this philosophy in mind, I found myself working in the Hofmann lab for the summer of 2023. A workplace where each day I could arrive unapologetically queer, non-binary, and neurodivergent, and it could only add to the work I was doing. The Hofmann lab focuses on marine-invertebrate interactions and physiology, specifically how they react and change due to heat stress from Marine Heatwaves, an increasing occurrence in an era of climate change. 

My biggest project with the lab was assisting graduate student Leeza-Marie Rodriguez on her “In-n-out” project, which entails placing purple-urchin cages both in and out of the kelp forest, inside being warmer and outside being cooler,  and feeding them different amounts of kelp. When we retrieve the cages in December, we’ll dissect each urchin to inspect their gonad, or reproductive organ, quality, and if that changes due to feeding or temperature gradient. 

My summer experience with the Hofmann lab is far from over and I have a feeling that my search for whys is more of a life-long pursuit….