Rachel Becknell

Graduate Student

“Before I went to Japan, I was absolutely terrified of the outdoors. My parents look at what I do and can’t believe I’m the same person. But where I lived in Japan, Hokkaido, it’s mountainous and beautiful. I started going outdoors more and decided consciously to overcome my fears.”

After an initial bachelor’s degree in Spanish, Rachel underwent a complete life-change in the Japanese mountains, finding a passion for all things nature and even one of her worst fears: spiders.

“I used to hate spiders and now I think they are adorable. It was really freeing to get past that, because being scared of everything holds you back a lot. After that, I took an ecology class and for the first time in my life I actually got excited about what I was learning. I think it is valuable to show people that anybody can be a scientist if they find something they’re interested in and passionate about.”

Mentoring is one of Rachel’s top priorities. Especially as somebody who made the tough transition from a liberal arts education in international studies to a STEM degree in biology, she knows the challenges firsthand.

“I enjoy the opportunity to train the next generation of scientists. I find it especially important to educate high school level students who may already think they’re not good enough for science, or science is boring, and try to show them that nature is something that you can be passionate about.”

Rachel was a mentor with Scott Mangan's Natural Enemies team during summer 2019. She is a PhD candidate in the Evolution, Ecology and Population Biology graduate program at Washington University. Learn more about her process-based ecological restoration research here.