You can Google me. Paige Leitman.

I am a marine biologist. I graduated with a PhD in Biological Oceanography from the Florida State University in 2001. I help clean up hazardous waste sites (marine, freshwater, and terrestrial).

1. ⁠What would be a typical day at work for you? 

Three conference calls, probably a half hour chatting on Teams, two hours reading, two hours writing, four hours in spreadsheets.

1. ⁠What kind of schedule is required for your job (days/hours)?

M-F 9-5

1. ⁠What would be the differences between and entry-level job and an advanced - level job in this career?

Management skills, scientific expertise, and an advanced degree.

1. ⁠What is the most difficult part of your job?

I have to manage budgets and manage people. I wasn’t really trained for that and I don’t super enjoy it. I like doing the science.

1. ⁠How is technology changing your career?

We are starting to have better and better chemistry options to detect lower concentrations of chemicals.

1. ⁠How long have you been working in this career?

I have wanted to be a marine biologist since I was 8. I started my masters degree in 1993. So 32 years.

1. ⁠What is your favorite part of your job?

Whoof. So many things. I basically do REALLY complex word problems to determine if chemicals in sediment, water, or soil are likely to harm the wildlife. I love putting together the math for this. It’s such a great puzzle.

I also love learning new things. I’m doing a lot of PFAS stuff these days. I haven’t done PFAS site assessments and cleanups. That means I’m reading a lot of papers to learn about PFAS. It’s awesome. My company PAYS ME to learn new things.

I work with some really smart people. And they all have different things they’re passionate and knowledgeable about. Working with them is fantastic.

1. ⁠Is there anything you wish you had known before you started working in this career?

No, not really.

1. ⁠How well did your education prepare you for the job?

Well, but maybe not the way most people think of it. After doing my PhD in 2001 I was probably one of ten people in the world that were expert in a particular very rare thing that absolutely no one in the world cared about - how highly weathered oil spills work. When the Deepwater Horizon disaster happened in 2014, and the dispersant effectively made it into a highly weathered spill! I was REALLY BUSY.

What was so important though, was it taught me how to think through scientific problems, and how to do a LOT of math. It also taught me how to stick to it when things look impossibly complex.

1. ⁠What advice would you give to someone who wants to work in your career?

Get a BIG reality check first. A lot of people think being a marine biologist means you dive with friendly dolphins in bright, clear tropical waters, watching beautiful sunsets from the boat.

That is not what marine biologists do. It’s a lot of working in libraries and laboratories. It’s a lot of fieldwork that is blisteringly hot, deathly cold, and really hard and frustrating. It is a gigantic variety of absolutely terrible smells. You WILL be seasick (everyone is seasick sometimes). The boats you are on will be uncomfortably small and you have hardly any privacy.

Just make sure you aren’t just dreaming of playing in the ocean, and you’re ready to work hard, study hard, and learn obsessively.