Suze Roots

I grew up in the Buckeye State along the Ohio River.  I've always loved being outside and I've always been a tomboy, even if I wasn't crazy about bugs.  I usually managed to convince the neighbor kids to play "pioneer" with me and traverse the rugged, inhospitable landscape of... my backyard.  And when they'd had enough of my imaginary Oregon Trail, I'd run down the street to help Kathy weed her expansive garden until we dug up worms.  I wasn't much for worms back then either.   

I really liked school and had a lot of great teachers.  I loved geography and science the most.  My seventh grade science fair project was about the eyesight of horses and determining the range of their blind spots.  Did you know that horses have two blind spots in their vision? Do you know where they are? My least favorite things about school were board races in math class and kickball.  It took me a lot of years to realize that you don't have to be good at team sports to be athletic.   

In high school at Ursuline Academy I started to figure things out a bit more.  I found sports that I loved that did not require a ball- cross country and track.  I took the class that would lay the foundation for my career - AP Biology.  And most importantly, I realized that my love for the natural world could take me places outside of Cincinnati and far from the Ohio River.  I packed a big bottle of sunscreen and headed to the Florida Keys where I was dazzled by the salt exuding leaves of mangrove trees, the filtering qualities of seagrass beds, and barracudas lurking near coral reefs.   

The trip gave me a lot of inspiration.  Not just for my college essay, but to get SCUBA certified in a rock quarry in Indiana.  While the sunken school bus wasn't much to look at, it got me thinking about artificial reefs.  Later that year, I started my collegiate career in the South studying Marine Science, but found myself back in Ohio where I ultimately earned a Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of Dayton.   

It took three months of office temp work after my freshman year of college to realize that I had the college summer break thing all wrong.  My friends in Cincinnati all told me I was crazy as I packed my bags the following summer to work in Minnesota, but it turned out to be an experience that would change the trajectory of my entire life.

I spent many hours falling in love with plants and even more time swatting at mosquitos at an ecological research station north of the Twin Cities. I got really sunburned and eventually learned to identify those prairie plants, but most importantly, I became immersed in an area of biology that continues to inspire me - ecology! 

A domino effect was set into motion after college graduation and suddenly new, exciting opportunities seemed to follow one after another! I felt inspired to learn more, do more, and see more! The wanderlust set in and before I knew it, this midwestern girl was landing in Guatemala City and couldn't say much more than 'hola'! 

I reforested hillsides in Guatemala, made baskets in Malawi, caught butterflies in Colorado, and measured vines in Panama - all in the name of biology, service, and adventure! I officially became an Ecogeek in 2006, but it took me a couple years to realize I'd been one all along. 

Off camera, I'm finishing my graduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I study tropical forest ecology.  During my post-graduate work my Spanish has improved (slightly), but most importantly I'm learning about the role of woody vines in tropical forests and how tropical forest composition may change in response to our changing climate. 

Somebody told me once, "Never stop exploring your world!"  It's probably one of the best pieces of advice I ever got.