From the Prairie to the Pacific: Caroline Graham ’16

Sitting in a biology lab in the middle of land-locked Iowa may not seem like a vital step toward a career in marine biology, but for Caroline Graham ’16, it was a key component of her salmonid journey. From a young age, Graham knew she wanted to move to the coast and experience a totally different ecosystem, and, while she stayed in the Midwest for college, her experience at Grinnell allowed her to pursue this passion. She spent two summers on different coasts, first interning at the Mote Marine Lab in Florida and then as a Hollings Research Scholar for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington. Even at Grinnell, she managed to fit in some aquatic time as a member of the swim and dive team — a support network she remains grateful for. 

Graham’s ichthyoid interests flourished after Grinnell. With a fresh bachelor’s degree in biology, she headed first to Alaska for research, then to Mexico on a Fulbright Research Fellowship, before settling on the one fish for which she would devote her career: the Pacific salmon. Over the next five years, Graham worked at the International Year of the Salmon, got her Master of Science in Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia, interned at Salmon-Safe, and returned to the International Year of the Salmon before accepting her current position as the Chinook Technical Committee Coordinator for the Pacific Salmon Commission. 

I was awestruck by the timeline of Graham’s career. So, when I got the delightful opportunity to chat with her, one of my first questions was, “Do you ever wish you had taken more time off?” Graham described herself as a person who is always looking towards the next objective or opportunity. But she wishes she had realized sooner the importance of getting a wide range of both fun and work experiences. “You do not have to rush into those super relevant professional experiences right away,” Graham said. How does she find time to incorporate non-salmonid passions into her daily life? For Graham, a work-life balance means giving herself the time to go outside, get into nature, and do outdoor activities that help her deal with any work or life stress she might be experiencing. 

I had to ask: If she loved being outdoors, why did she make the career shift from field work to project management, policy, and decision making? Graham told me that she had always had a passion for saving the environment, but her research did not contribute to that goal in as meaningful a way as she wanted. In her recent roles, she explained, she could better see the connection between the research world and the “more human part” of the world. At her current position, she is able to work towards making science more relevant for policy and decision making, and she finds those goals to be a lot more tangible. This was refreshing and reassuring to hear. During my time in the Grinnell biology department, I have often noted an emphasis on research and pursuing research careers. While I understand the value of making discoveries that contribute to the knowledge of the discipline, I’ve felt the same disconnect that Graham mentioned between the discoveries and their value to society. It was a joy to see that Graham’s work was bridging that gap.

Finally, when asked how Grinnell shaped her career trajectory, Graham explained that the way that Grinnell’s biology department is structured gave her a lot of valuable experience in many different aspects of the field: writing grant proposals, group collaboration, designing experiments and communicating results. All of these components, combined with support from her adviser Peter Jacobson and other excellent professors at Grinnell, gave her the skills and confidence to succeed after graduation.

Author’s Note

Even though I knew everyone would want to read about how Graham got to where she was today, or how Grinnell changed her life, I started our interview with a question that was a bit more personal: What are your thoughts about eating fish? Her answer was less straightforward than I had expected. Graham started out by saying that it is hard to make blanket statements about salmon and fish consumption, because plenty of people do not have the privilege to choose what they eat, and others have certain foods that are part of their culture and wellbeing. Overall, Graham emphasized that, if you are able, you should try to learn where all your food comes from, not just fish. If you can, source fish locally and try to eat lower on the food chain. Stay educated, be aware, and make the choices best for yourself and your environment.