Happy Working in the Mud

In 2006, Rachel Jakuba received her doctorate degree in chemical oceanography from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. Eager to work outside of academia and traditional lab-based chemistry jobs, she gravitated to environmental policy and project management, an interest she developed while working for three years on a river sustainability project in Sydney, Australia. When it came time to return to the United States, a WHOI connection pointed her to the Buzzard’s Bay Coalition, where she became a staff scientist.

Jakuba’s work at the Buzzard’s Bay Coalition involves monitoring 13 sites on or near Cape Cod, including Herring Brook in Falmouth. (Photo by Daniel Hentz, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Twelve years later, Jakuba, 45, now oversees the Coalition’s research and monitoring efforts as Vice President for Bay Science. One of her offices, in Woods Hole, is within walking distance to the labs and lecture halls where she earned her PhD, which she and more than 1,100 other scientists and engineers have completed since the Joint Program’s start in 1968.

As an undergraduate in chemistry at the University of Georgia, and during her six-year Joint Program degree in Boston and Cape Cod, she explored her path ahead.  She credits the Joint Program for helping her develop a rich array of science contacts and for teaching her creative thinking strategies to avoid becoming overwhelmed by the magnitude and diversity of environmental science challenges.

It also honed her technical skills that she has used throughout her career, and, importantly, broadened her exposure to an array of science avenues. As an undergraduate student, she worked in a marine lab analyzing frozen mud samples. “After two years of working with mud, I was attracted to WHOI for graduate school because I would work in the ocean, in blue water,” she said.

As a Joint Program student, Rachel went on to spend more than 100 days at sea on research cruises. Life, however, kept pointing her in a different direction. “It’s ironic,” she said, “because I’ve happily ended up back on the coast, working in mud.”

You work in mud?

Even though my current role includes securing funding, writing grants and research reports, and promoting our monitoring programs, I still do a lot of science through data analysis and summer field work. We have two long-term salt marsh and water quality monitoring programs. We’re measuring the marsh elevation right to the edge, counting stems of marsh grasses, snails and mussels, and crab burrows. We have to get up close and personal with the marsh to do the job.

How did you find the Coalition job?

It came through a WHOI connection while I was living and working in Australia. After graduation, my husband, Michael Jakuba (a fellow Joint Program student) received a postdoctoral position at the University of Sydney. I found work there related to pollution in an urban river. Mike, an engineer, became involved in work related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He ended up on a research cruise with environmental chemist Christopher Reddy, whom I knew from WHOI.  Chris suggested that I contact the Buzzards Bay Coalition, where he was a board member. He knew that they needed scientists. When it came time to come home, I reached out to them. It is great example of the power of good connections.

How did your upbringing influence your career choice?

As a kid in suburban Maryland, I loved being outdoors, playing sports, and taking family trips to the Delaware shore. In high school I had a fantastic chemistry teacher who explained the subject in a way that made sense. When I was thinking about a career, I wanted to do chemistry but I knew I didn’t want to be a “white coat in a lab.” I wanted to be working outdoors. I wanted to focus on environmental science.

How did the MIT-WHOI Joint Program prepare you for your career?

It taught me technical skills, like how to collect water and sediment samples. Mostly it taught me how to tackle problems that don’t have an easy solution, or don’t yet have any solution, and to not be intimidated by that. I’m also grateful for science connections from the Joint Program. At the Coalition, we are a staff of about 35 people and I routinely reach out to others from the scientific community in Woods Hole and Boston when I am trying to understand a problem.

Then-MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Rachel Jakuba returns from a small boat and climbs back aboard the R/V Kilo Moana while studying how ocean chemistry affects phytoplankton growth in the North Pacific. (Photo by James Moffett)

Any advice for young scientists considering a master’s or doctorate program degree?

Consider taking a year off after your undergraduate degree. Work in a variety of locations, like a lab and in the field, and broaden your perspective to different kinds of opportunities. Make sure that a PhD makes sense, especially if you aren’t going to do research in an academic setting. Also be open to non-traditional science routes. I thought I wanted to be a university professor. I found my passion not in academia but in policy management and applied science.

Best thing about your job?

I work on issues relevant to the place where I live. I like feeling that what I’m doing is valuable to my children and others in my community.