Um. I'm Erin Oliver. I'm a postdoctoral researcher here. The Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, Oklahoma. And I study soil microbes and the affect of different agricultural practices on the soil health and microbiology. So one of the reasons I got into science is because I don't have a typical day. I get really bored if I do the same thing every single day.

So I split my time between working out in the field where I'll be out there all day collecting soil samples, looking at the vegetation do plant ID, things like that. And then I'll bring that soil back to the lab. And then in the lab, I process it. I extract the microbial DNA from the soil so that I can identify the microbes.

And I do a whole bunch of other tests and things. And then once I get all that data and I have to analyze it. And so I do a lot of that and it's a lot more computer work. And then eventually I would write it up in a manuscript So, yeah, a little bit of everything as a kid.

So I grew up in a family of scientists. And as a kid, I wanted to do anything other than science because it was what my family did. And I was like, I'm the youngest. So I was like, I have to do my own thing. You know, I can't do what everyone else is doing. But then as I got into like high school, I was like, Wow, this is kind of where I'm interested in.

And it's kind of but I didn't really have a specific interest. I was like, I kind of I'm good at science. I like it. I think that's what I want to do. So what I was applying to college, I was like, I don't know what kind of science I want to do. So my goal was just go to a big school that had a lot of different options so that I could kind of figure it out.

And then when I got to college, I just wanted to get into some research. So I started emailing professors at the college, say, who who has opportunities for me? And I'll be honest, I joined a lab because I thought that they did work in Antarctica, and I just thought that was like the coolest thing. And that's kind of how I got into microbiology.

They were studying microbes in Antarctica, and I was like, That's cool. I maybe I'll get to go to Antarctica if I join the lab. I didn't really know that I had an interest in microbiology but then as I was working there, I really, really liked it. And so then I kind of got into that field and I was like, well, I really kind of like the idea of like microbes in the environment they live in.

All these, like, cool, extreme environments. And this kind of was my entrance into it. And then I did some research in Alaska, both I did an internship there, and I also did it through working in that lab. And that was when I really, like, fell in love with, like, the outdoors and nature and all that. And then that kind of became my passion.

And so my goal with research since then has always been to do work that kind of looks at the effect of the environment on the microbiology and then kind of how that also feeds back into the environment itself. Um, so whenever someone asks me about a fun fact about microbiology or soil microbiology specifically. This is my answer in one gram of soil, which is like, you know, this much, there's over a million different species of microbes So the project is we're looking at the different two different grazing management strategies.

So grazing of cattle on native rangelands. So that native grasslands, a lot of what we have here in Oklahoma in how basically the way you move the cattle around can affect this soil health and the plant productivity and all of that. So the idea is if you can use your cattle efficiently, then you don't really need to input with a lot of like fertilizers and things like that and just sort of let the grasslands be grasslands and produce the grass on their own, but then also can still be profitable for producers.

So failure happens all the time in science. If we knew how things were going to work out, we did experiments all the time, then what would be the point of even doing it? Like we'd already know. So yeah, failure is a really common part of science and it's kind of embraced. I think a lot is. But for me, failure is kind of when something doesn't work go your way that you just kind of give up or you don't listen to the people around you.

So I've good example is this. When I was first starting here, this project I had been planning for a couple of months, like how I was going to do all my fieldwork, how are we going to cut all these soil samples and do everything? And it's a really large scale. We have a lot of sites, a lot of plot.

So it's a really large scale project. And I had never really done anything that large scale before. So I got out there the first day thinking, Okay, I've got this, I'm going to set up these things and it's can be great. And I got out there and it was just like overwhelming. And I was like, This is more than I had kind of thought.

It was going to be. And it was a little demoralizing because I was new and I didn't want people to think like, I don't know what I'm doing, you know? And so I just kind of had to take a step back with one of my colleagues. And the next day, you know, we didn't go back out. The next day, we said, let's step back and make a plan, you know?

And then we talked to a whole bunch of people. We made a plan and then we were like more efficient when we went back out. And we still have more to learn even after that, you know? But I think had I been like, no, I'm just going to keep doing things my way. I'm not going to listen to anyone else then, which was very tempting to do because I wanted to prove, you know, that I know what I'm doing, that I'm right.

But I think failure in that sense would have been like no to trying to keep going, try and keep doing something that's not working. You know, my big passion is the outdoors. I love the outdoors. So yeah, hiking, camping are two of my favorite things to do. So I do that as much as I can. But when it's hot outside or too cold outside to do those things I read, I like to cook a lot.

So that's kind of another thing I really like to do listen to music. I watch TV just, you know, kind of whatever I see, just like in my work, I don't like to eat the same thing all the time. So I'm constantly trying to find new recipes. I repeat, when I really like something but for the most part, I try to always be doing something.

new, I think especially in like the agricultural field, it's pretty MALE-DOMINATED a lot of the times, you know, doing field work, it's very labor intensive. So you are often going to be the only woman sometimes, but not always. Like I know tons of women in our culture. I mean, actually in our research group, we have tons of women.

So there's this idea that oh, there's not women who go in the science. There's tons of women who go into science. The biggest gap is in leadership. We don't see a lot of women in leadership roles. You know, I've never had a female supervisor. I've oh, it's always been men. So that it is maybe that extra like feel like you need to prove yourself.

Like I can push this soil probe into the ground. I don't need a man to do it, you know, like even though there might be physically stronger. But I think so long as you show up and you're willing to do the work and like, you have a good attitude, people are people are good. I think starting with just like a love of the outdoors is really key.

If you don't like being outside, it's probably not going to be a great field for you. Yeah. So I would say like especially in like high school, just like go outside and go hiking when you're hiking, look at some plants, see if you like it, see if that's something that interests you. I think that's a good place to start because if you're passionate about it, then you're willing to stand out in the heat all day and collect your soil samples.

But if you're not passionate about it, it's just going to be not fun. Definitely. I think my experience in Alaska would probably be the one that was kind of my big like, I think a light bulb moment. If I really had a light bulb moment, I was telling you before, like I never really, like, sat down and said, this is what I'm doing with my life.

Like, I've just kind of gone from thing to thing just like my interests kind of guide me. Yeah. When I went to Alaska, I honestly, I just went because I wanted to go to Alaska. Like, I was like where I was doing I wanted to do a summer internship and I was like, I really want to go out west.

I never been out West. And I was like, I want to go. I just wanted to travel really so i was like. Okay, we're going to do an internship, that will allow me to travel. And there was one in Alaska and that's what I'm doing. And I got there. And just like, I mean, the research was cool and all of that was great.

But also just like being there and realizing that I could basically use science to go out and like go to these really cool places that you wouldn't normally get to go. Like, I spent two weeks camping next to a glacier, like, what am I going to get to do that and get paid to do that? I think everything is a learning experience.

Like, I never regret really any like choices that I make because I think I've never had experience where it was so bad and I didn't learn anything from that. Any bad experience, you're going to learn from it. So I never regret it. A pivotal, like, specific, pivotal or moment or pivotal thing I think at some point, you know, I kind of I think when you start going in a science kind of a goal for most people is to become like a professor at a, you know, a big research school.

That's always kind of a goal but there's a reality that there's not as many jobs available as, you know, as there are people who would like to have those jobs. So there is tons of different careers in science. You know, I'm here not at a university. I'm doing science at a private research company. And there's a whole like not it's a nonprofit.

There's a whole world there of nonprofit research. There's government research. So just kind of the idea that there are a lot of different options, um, and, and for different lifestyles. I am not a workaholic. I like to have my time, you know, outside of work. And that was another thing with going into like the academic world, is there is not a lot of work life balance in that if you're going to be a top person, you're going to work all the time.

And I don't want to work all the time. So yeah, there's been things like that where I've been like, you know, I thought that's what I wanted to do. But now that I kind of see the reality of it. I'm, I think I'm going to go do this other thing. I don't know that. Yeah, that there was like a specific thing.

I think the career, I was kind of, you know, when you're in high school or trying to go, okay, what am I gonna do? What I wanna do? And I think at one point I think I'm going to be a journalist. I don't know, why I thought, I wanted to be a journalist. but I thought it so. And then I kind of I think that's kind of how it started as like, well, what kind of stories?

What kind of stories would I want to write, you know, what kind what kind of journalist would I want to be. And then I was like, I thought, like, working for, like, National Geographic would be, like, the coolest thing, right? Because you I mean, you see, you know, there's all these, like, exotic places, and you're just like, wow, that would be so cool. And so I started that way, and I was like, well, what if I did like science writing, you know?

And then it kind of eventually morphed into what if I just did science agian I went into, you know, I was kind of general into some sort of biology area. But I didn't have I didn't know, you know, like when you're in high school, you pretty much take very basic biology, chemistry, maybe physics. So you just don't know.

There's so much out there. And so I kind of got there and I started in a lab, actually, I only worked there for a few months. Um, this is kind of one of those sort of maybe I think everything not that everything happens for a reason, but that, you know, there are things that kind of work out the way they're supposed to.

And I start working this lab, and I just wasn't really interested in it. It was, it was cool. I mean, now I maybe find a little more interesting, but at 18 I didn't find that interesting. Um, but that professor ended up leaving the university got, he got another job, you know, at different university I'm leaving. And so I had to leave the lab and I was like, thankful, kind of because I was like, Oh, I don't really want to do this.

And that's when I started working in the Antarctica lab. I would think, just don't feel like you have to have everything figured out. You know, I don't, I didn't have it figured out. I still don't have it all figured out, you know, I think I think that age a lot of people are telling you, you need to start thinking about college.

You think about what you want to do. You need to pick the right college and all of that. And I didn't know how to pick the right college. You know, I was I was mostly applying to colleges. I thought have pretty campuses, you know, like I so I think if you don't know what you want to do, definitely a bigger college is better in that sense.

You know, I went to a state school. I had tons of opportunities, and that's why I was kind of gravitated towards that because I was like, I don't want to go to a small school that might not have what if I decide I'm interested in something? They don't have it, you know? So I think you get more opportunities to explore different opportunities.

I guess Hi today I'm going to show you how to make a winogradsky column. So a winogradsky column, is a really cool demonstration tool used to show how many different cool things microbes do in soil. So we're going to start by putting our carbon source into the column. And this is just shredded paper, and we're using shredded paper because it's a slow release carbon.

And so if you used a fast release carbon, you might get you would get different results okay.

And then we're going to add our sulfur source, which is plaster of Paris ok and then we're going to take some of our pond water. I got my water from the pond here you don't have to use pond water. You could use anything except for tap water, bottled water or anything like that. You just don't want to use super treated of water because then it'll kill off the microbes.

Yeah. So then I'll add in some soil and when you're getting your soil, you want to make sure you don't have too many sticks or rocks. Or large roots in there, just as much soil by itself as possible.

Okay. And then we just press it on down to get it as nice and compact as possible to exclude any oxygen in the tube okay Yeah. So then you're just going to throw some more water on top and then seal it off with a piece of plastic and a rubber band so yeah. So once you've got your column all set up, you're going to want to put it in a bright face, but not direct sunlight either near a window sill or just in the lights of your classroom is fine.

You want to make sure you label it with the date and your source so you know where it came from. And then it's going to set for months. For over the several months, you'll start to see layers forming throughout the column. And that kind of mimics the different nutrient sources that microbes use in the soil. So you'll have your most anaerobic microbes down at the bottom and then as it goes up, you go through like various nutrient sources, like sulfur and iron and nitrogen and things like that.

Until you get to the top where all of your oxygenated and photosynthetic microbes live