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Chris Reily graduated from Hood College with a master’s in Environmental Biology in May 2014. Just a month later, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Maryland, offered him the position of Biological Science Technician (AKA “forest tech”). His job: to help complete the 2014 re-census of the SERC SIGEO forest plot, one of many throughout the world.

So far he’s measured the diameters and noted the species of every woody stem greater than 1 cm in diameter in a 16-hectare plot, including multiflora rose, devil’s walking stick and even poison ivy. Chris, who has been dubbed a “bug guy,” is now doing quality control, species ID checks and soil sampling. “Every day presents opportunities for me to use what I learned at Hood,” he says. “In a setting like the Smithsonian, there is such a breadth of content being discussed or highlighted at any given time that you never know how and when the content from Hood’s course offerings will allow you to make a contribution.”

Learn more about the Graduate School’s Environmental Biology program: .