Courtney Collins

She/Her

I am queer and I am a community ecologist.//

 

I am a community ecologist studying global change impacts on arctic and alpine ecosystems. I came out as queer/bisexual 4 years into my PhD when I was 29 and had so much support from my community of graduate students and other academics at the University of California, Riverside. In addition, there were lots of other members of this community that were already out and whose identity was being celebrated and that was such an awesome thing to see and it made my experience so much easier and more comfortable. I have felt totally accepted as a member of the LGBTQ community in STEM. I’m aware that this is not always the case for people but in my experience it’s been very positive.