.dropcap { color: #838078; float: left; font-size: 82px; line-height: 60px; padding: 5px 8px 0 0; } .art-aside-tmp { height: auto !important; min-height: auto !important; } In 2011, two years after graduating college as a biology major, I switched my focus from plants to birds. After a summer spent working with Atlantic Puffins, I landed a dream job: a three-month gig in the Galápagos Islands studying another seabird, the Nazca Booby. I was thrilled, except there was one catch. While my flight, food, sturdy boots, and housing (a tent) would be covered, I wouldn’t earn a penny for three months. The remote location also meant no internet access. I couldn’t apply for the next field job until I left the island. My experience was common, and it points to a serious problem with the traditional career path for field scientists. Ecology, conservation, and wildlife job boards burst each year with listings seeking seasonal researchers to measure trees...