Portraits of Acadia: Emma Albee

Emma Albee, Science Information Specialist, smiles in front of the Schoodic Institute.

NPS photo by Brady Richards

I joined Schoodic Institute as a Science Information Specialist in 2014 after having worked as a seasonal employee at Acadia National Park.

The main focus of my job is to support research happening within Acadia National Park. I work with Acadia park staff to manage research permits for members of the public who want to come and conduct their own research in the park. This involves getting information from researchers on what their project plans are, reviewing this with park staff, issuing research permits, and getting annual and final reports from researchers. I approve around 80-85 research permits every year on a variety of topics including summit restoration, invasive pests, wildlife biodiversity, migration monitoring, and more.

I also work to archive and share the information publicly that comes from these research projects, so that other researchers and park visitors can learn from their findings. We use the NPS IRMA Data Store as a repository for documents related to research studies in the park. We also work with researchers and communicators to share stories about their projects on both Acadia’s and Schoodic’s website.

Emma talks into a mic during the Science Symposium.

NPS photo by Brady Richards

One way we help support the research community is by holding the Acadia National Park Science Symposium—an annual event that brings together researchers as well as park managers and partners to learn from each other and share what they do. One component of the event is to have speaker sessions where people can present to a large audience about their research project. The other core component of the Science Symposium involves a poster session where researchers, including students, share about their recent findings. It's always great to see students have the opportunity to discuss their projects with people who can use the results to make informed decisions in the park.

I really enjoy connecting researchers working in the park with park managers so the research findings can be used when making decisions on how to manage resources in the park as well as archiving documents so they can be used in future research.

– Emma Albee, Science Information Specialist

Emma speaks in front of a large crowd in attendance to the Science Symposium.

NPS photo by Brady Richards

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