For Whitney Hall ’25, the journey to scientific discovery runs deeper than the waterways she studied as a natural sciences master’s student at Columbus State University. Now working toward a doctoral degree in environmental and life sciences, she credits hands-on exploration and faculty mentorship at CSU for fueling her growing passion for research.

A native of LaGrange, Georgia, Hall was uncertain about her career path after earning an undergraduate degree in psychology in 2014. So, she spent a decade traveling internationally, gaining experience in different areas of the wine industry, including vineyards, cellars and laboratories. Her lab work in microbiology and plant pathology ultimately inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in the field.

“I enjoyed the mix of field work and lab work that I did in the wine industry, and that every day was something different,” she reflected. “I also enjoyed performing tests and analyses to concretely answer questions about [vineyard, fruit and juice] samples and then manipulating them to our desired result.”

She explored her options and enrolled at Columbus State in 2023, allowing her to study near her family. She was also drawn to the university’s “close-knit, community feel” and, after enrolling, decided to concentrate her studies on conservation and ecology.

“I was really nervous about going back to school [after being out of college for so long],” Hall recalled of the experience of starting a graduate degree in her late 20s. “The staff was extremely helpful in guiding my decision-making. What I liked was that [the program] gave me the opportunity to take a lot of different courses, and I feel like those experiences helped me get a feel for doing experiments, being out in the field, and writing for scientific audiences.”

Through her research in the Department of Biology, Hall evolved from a student to a contributing scientist, focusing on the complex relationship between environmental factors and fish development.

“I found my courses to be very structured in the sense that they focused on experimental design and planning, collecting samples, doing statistical analyses—which I had no experience in before that—and writing and presenting,” she recalled. “Presenting about my research, in particular, helped me with how I communicated about the science we were doing.”

She credits Dr. Mike Newbrey, a senior lecturer specializing in ecology and ichthyology (the study of fish), with nurturing her scientific curiosity and research opportunities. With his guidance, she studied how temperature changes affect the growth and lifespan of fish species like the largemouth bass and Atlantic cod. That research led to publication opportunities in peer-reviewed journals (she’s putting the final editing touches on one before submitting the manuscript for submission), authoring reference materials to help fishery agencies analyze thermal indices, and presenting at conferences, such as the 2025 meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) and the Georgia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (AFS).

“Presenting scientific work helped me to effectively communicate science to general audiences in a way that was easy to understand and interesting,” she said of those experiences. “It also led to questions that I had not thought of regarding my study and how to address them in the future. Practice makes perfect, so doing talks is always beneficial in increasing confidence in public speaking, which is a necessity when pursuing a career in science and research.”

Newbrey and his faculty colleagues in the life sciences seek to engage students like Hall and her classmates in scientific discovery and help them build their research skills and portfolios.

“The skills Whitney gained via experience in research, formatting a presentation and presenting that research to colleagues at a scientific conference are critical to successfully compete in the field,” he explained. “Many of these skills are not easy to learn or read about and reproduce; they require experience to determine how to express your own professional personification and preferences in professional communication.”

A foundation for doctoral rigor

Having finished her master’s in natural sciences at Columbus State in the summer of 2025, Hall is now in her first semester at Trent University in Ontario, Canada. There, she plans to focus her doctoral research on the habitats of specific mammal species and how changes in human interaction, the environment and climate may affect them over time. While her interests have shifted from fish to mammals, she credits Newbrey’s mentoring with piquing her curiosity about climate change ecology.

“[Newbrey’s] course [in climate change ecology] was really influential in helping me with my master’s work, but it also helped point me to my doctoral research interests,” she said. “Dr. Newbrey was great because he didn’t just help facilitate ideas; he put up with my questions. It’s important to have someone who will listen to you, your ideas and your concerns—and walk you through finding solutions in a way that challenges you to figure it out on your own.”

Collaboration is essential, Newbrey affirmed, for undergraduate students wishing to continue their studies at the graduate level, and mandatory for students ultimately focused on earning a doctoral degree.

“Students are more successful when they gain experience via collaboration in research outside of the classroom, because they learn and employ those skills in an applied setting,” he said. “Whitney gained skills important for competing for a Ph.D. student position: constructing studies, testing hypotheses, conducting research, analyzing data, creating presentations, writing manuscripts and communicating her findings at meetings.”

After completing her doctoral studies, she hopes to continue in a research capacity with a conservation organization—likely a governmental agency or NGO focused on wildlife ecology and conservation. She advises undergraduate and graduate students alike interested in research careers to capitalize on the relationships they build in their majors and the access they gain to resume-building experiences.

“Align yourself with advisors and peers who can help you figure out what research areas you want to focus on and how you can get the access and tools you need to make that happen,” she said.

She also spoke positively about returning to the classroom a little later in life than most students—and a little older than most of her classmates.

“Don’t be worried if you’re a little late to the game or if you’ve changed your plans, and that’s why you’re starting late,” she added. “Life experiences bring a lot to the table as well, and that really helped me.”