When Amy Battocletti learned as a young girl that wildlife populations were declining and species were becoming extinct, she felt a personal calling. “We have a responsibility to think about how our actions affect other living beings,” she says. “I’m very passionate about wildlife. The Earth is a beautiful place, and it’s something we need to value and protect.”

Today Battocletti studies the impact of genetic variation within plant species in salt marsh ecosystems at Georgetown University, where she received a three-year National Science Foundation research fellowship. Battocletti’s path to college and graduate school involved a detour to the U.S. Navy, where she served as an aerographer’s mate, helping meteorologists and oceanographers prepare troops for any type of physical environment.

While pursuing her degrees in marine biology and conservation biology at URI, Battocletti traveled to India with Professor Tom Husband and fellow undergraduates to study the diversity of mammals found on coffee farms, and spent three winter seasons as a field volunteer for the New England Cottontail Project, searching for evidence of the rare rabbit in Rhode Island. Another project involved DNA fingerprinting of seaweed found in Greenwich Bay.

Battocletti’s diverse experiences in and out of the classroom and lab shaped her interest in conservation genetics and finding solutions to the challenges wildlife populations face. “I’ve wondered what our descendants will think of us in the future. I decided that this was something worth dedicating my life to.”