Mentor Interview

Interview with Dr. Marie Simovich:

Saving the world, one vernal pool at a time

The moment you step into the Simovich research lab at the University of San Diego, there are students working under the microscope. Its so quiet you could hear a pin drop. From down the hallway there’s a burst of loud laughter and the voice of someone who speaks with enthusiasm and excitement. The chaos that comes from down the hall slowly moves to the lab. As the door opens a collie runs into the office and greets everyone with the friendly nudge of her nose. Dr. Marie Simovich comes in and the lab suddenly sparks to life. Dressed in a casual outfit with mud-covered boots, she talks about taking care of her horses before she could come in. She quickly checks in with everyone starting with her assistant Katie and as she starts to leave the lab she turns towards me to ask how I am. This is the first time I had seen Dr. Marie Simovich in her work environment at USD. Her work in the lab, field and teaching classes makes her the unique and clever individual that she is.

The first time I was fortunate enough to work with Dr. Simovich was at Carmel Mountain Preserve where her recent project is based. Her research work has to do with the protection and eventual restoration of the vernal pools that are quickly disappearing. Vernal pools are pools of water that fill during the wet season and are homes to endangered crustaceans and contribute to the food chain. Due to development and construction, 97% of vernal pools have disappeared completely resulting in 20 vernal plants and animals having been listed as endangered or threatened. The field is a common place where Dr. Simovich spends time collecting samples from the vernal pools. The outdoors is where she wants to be and that’s why spending time with her is so enjoyable. Dr Simovich is quick tongued, has a mind of her own and has an incredible personality that will make anyone around her smile. She not only has the personality that makes her the great person that she is, but she also has the intent of fixing an environmental issue that would save many species that live among the vernal pools.

Dr. Marie Simovich collecting samples from a Carmel Mountain Preserve vernal pool.

What university did you go too?

I went to CalPoly Pamona for my bachelors and masters degree and I went to UC Riverside for my PhD.

When did you first find an interest in the sciences?

I think I was always interested in animals and when I went to school, I didn't know if I wanted to be a history major or a biology major. I had a really wonderful wonderful teacher that just used to do drawings on the board of animals and make them totally come to life and he just really.. excited everybody about biology and about how organisms are adapted to their environments and how to save them and stuff. So I wound up being a biology major and he wound up being my major professor when I did my masters degree.

When did you first find an interest in the vernal pools?

When I was at UC Riverside I was going to do a PhD that was similar to my masters on fire ecology of reptiles. But then the people there were working on spade foot toads and they just sort of sparked my interest. So I wound up looking at a hybrid zone of spade foot toads out in Arizona and they were living in vernal pools out there and they were eating fairy shrimp. When I got this job, working with fairy shrimp that you could hydrate, it was a whole lot easier then working with spade foot toads that might not even show up for a couple years. So I wound up moving from spade foot toads to fairy shrimp but they were still in vernal pools.

What other projects have you worked on other than those having to do with the vernal pools?

Fire ecology.

How did you get started working at USD?

I was at some scientific meeting, presenting my information from my dissertation. My PhD major professor was there and he was talking to some friends of his who worked here and they said, we're looking for a population biologist, have you got any students graduating who would fit? And he said yes, I have one and she's right here! But I interviewed with a bunch of other people who interviewed for the job.

How do you manage your time between teaching and working on your research?

It's really hard. It's really hard, especially when your teaching a new class and you try to revise a class that you want to make changes in and it gets hard. I don't know what to say. It’s hard.