By Abigail Ofous
Trinity Times Correspondent

Patrice Nielson was supposed to be asleep, but instead she climbed out of her crib and wandered into the garden to pick wildflowers. Even at 3 years old, nature was calling to her.

“I kind of always knew what I was going to do,” said Professor Patrice Nielson, remembering her early dreams of becoming a biologist.

After years of hard work, those dreams became a reality. Nielson is now an environmental studies professor at Trinity Washington University.

Nielson’s first classroom was her family garden in Gilford, N.H., where she learned the seasons, the weather, when to plant and when to harvest. It was a place that taught her not only to grow, but how closely people and ecosystems depend on one another — a lesson that would echo throughout her career.

“We had sugar maple trees that we would tap,” she said. “We’d drill holes, collect the sap in a bucket, and boil it down on our kitchen stove and make our own maple syrup.”

By the time she was a senior in high school, biology had become a sort of religion, Nielson said. She was determined to get into a school with a strong science department to further her learning.

Brigham Young University-Idaho stood out as a clear choice. “They offered me a full-ride scholarship for a four-year biology degree,” Nielson said.

Leaving the valleys of home for “The Gem State,” Nielson believed the move was both a good opportunity and a financially wise choice.

“I went all the way from this lush, little, hilly forest of New Hampshire to kind of these big, wide, open, dry mountains of Idaho, and so everything was different,” she said.

At Brigham Young, Nielson did internships in cellular and molecular biology , but learned she wasn’t a big fan of lab-based work.

Working in these areas made Nielson remember how much she loved to be around plants and animals, and set her sights on becoming a biological technician.

But the educators in her life saw more in her.

“I had some really good mentors who encouraged me to kind of push myself and excel as a student,” she said. “They thought I should look into graduate school.”

Nielson took the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, and entered a master’s program in the wildlife conservation program at Brigham Young.

However, earning the degree was not easy.

Nielson described it as a “complete, utter train wreck, dumpster fire.” As the first in her family to go to graduate school, she felt unprepared — unsure of what to look for in a program and unsure of how to navigate it.

“The research itself was not as interesting as I had hoped, and then some of the classes were different than what I really wanted to take, and my advisor, my main mentor, had a different work style, so it was a struggle for me to kind of find my way and fit in and get research done,” Nielson said.

Nielson persisted and was able to graduate. She worked in food science, and then did research on birds in Idaho and Utah for a few years.

When her husband landed a job in Washington, D.C., Nielson continued her bird research in this new environment.

She walked through parks and refuges, observing which habitats birders used most and which species appeared in the city. Those patterns helped her understand birds living in urban environments.

Soon, she was considering a doctorate.

“I connected with some researchers studying wetlands and birds at the University of Maryland Department of Environmental Science and Technology,” she said.

She was accepted into the program and received a paid stipend.

Her doctoral work focused on birds near the Potomac and Anacostia river systems. The research was challenging — full of long-term projects, abstract goals and ambiguous timelines.

“I learned that I work well with structure [and] deadlines,” she said.

She also discovered the power of collaboration. She didn’t need to know everything; she needed to know whom to work with.

“I can make connections with people who can help with different parts of the research,” she said. “Teamwork is really important in science.”

Those lessons later shaped her teaching.

Nielson, who has been working at Trinity for eight years, has made a significant impact at the university.

Nielson has students do interactive and collaborative activities instead of just taking in lectures. Students partner up with a classmate, or they take on projects as part of a group. Nielson does this so students get to know more about each other and hear different perspectives.

Professor Kaitlin Wellens, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Biology, works in the same department as Nielson and describes her as a great colleague who works easily with other faculty and values interdisciplinary research.

“She is responsible, fun and has creative ideas that help make our team better,” said Wellens, who also said she admires Nielson’s generous mentoring of students.

Wellens said that when she’s in her office, she can hear Professor Nielson in her office in one-on-one meetings with students.

“She uses multiple modes of teaching that are creative and help students grasp complicated topics,” Wellens said, describing Nielson as someone who’s passionate, energetic and knowledgeable.

Belky Lemus Alvarado, a junior majoring in global affairs and minoring in environmental justice, took Nielson’s environmental seminar and environmental policy class. Alvarado later worked with Nielson through Trinity’s summer research program.

“I always felt very supported by her,” Alvarado said. “I could approach her with anything.”

The assignments also always had purpose and connected directly to real environmental issues, which made the work more meaningful, Alvarado said.

Alvarado, who does not come from a science background, said Nielson helped her apply her global affairs skills to environmental research. For issues such as climate change, this kind of interdisciplinary approach is vital, she said.

During the program, Nielson and Alvarado researched power plants in West Virginia. They reviewed state paperwork and uncovered discrepancies, including one plant that appeared to be shielded by lawmakers from providing full environmental impact information.

Alvarado said she appreciates Nielson’s hands-on approach in the classroom and her encouragement of students to critically think about environmental justice. Alvarado now plans to pursue a dual degree in environmental sustainability policy and go to law school to become an environmental lawyer.

Nielson’s understanding of climate change comes not only from science but from what she has witnessed firsthand, she said. She believes that ignoring climate change increases risks and delays the urgent work needed to address it. And by immersing her students in real-world issues, Nielson hopes to inspire all her students to make an impact.

“You know, knowledge is power. Education is key,” she said. “So by teaching students and getting more people involved in science and environmental issues, we have more of that knowledge and education and that power to move forward.”