From Classroom to Clam Flats

Carter Hathaway stepped into a muddy undergraduate research project that changed his course

Between his junior and senior years as a UMaine Journalism major, Carter Hathaway accepted an undergraduate research position on a project about communication and resilience in shellfishing communities in coastal Maine—a project led by Bridie McGreavy, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Communication in the Department of Communication and Journalism and a Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow, and supported by Ph.D. candidate Tyler Quiring.

Hathaway did so wholeheartedly but with a few misgivings. He had never done any field research in his studies and wondered how his nascent journalism skills might fit with this field-based project where he would be working on the clam flats of Downeast Maine.

“I had no idea what ‘research’ meant outside of, for example, writing a literature review for a class paper,” Hathaway says. “It was a nebulous term and, of course, I was a little nervous going into the project.”

But not long after starting work on the project, Hathaway grew more comfortable and began to see how the research could be applied outside an academic context. His assistantship included reading, transcribing and “coding” (i.e., pulling out key themes) from interviews previously conducted with stakeholders in the clamming and shellfish industry by McGreavy, Quiring and other collaborators.

Hathaway also helped gather information by attending shellfish management meetings and analyzing videos and interviews with people who had been involved in the shellfish industry for many years.

In addition to these more traditional communication research approaches, Hathaway got involved in an innovative research project dubbed Clam Cam. He worked with clammers to record the sights, sounds, and movements of clamming and then helped organize, edit, and display these videos so that other people could experience clamming for themselves and gain a window into its value.

“I saw the importance of academics outside the ivory tower for the first time,” he says, “of seeing that the fishermen appreciated our presence there and that we were really listening to the problems they’re facing. So that was a really valuable experience.”

These experiences gave him insight into the difference research can make, and this insight helped him make the leap into graduate work.

Shifting roles, extending research impacts

Hathaway received his Bachelor’s degree in 2017 and translated the research he’d done with McGreavy and Quiring into a Master’s program, which he has now completed. It was his experience as an undergraduate that made him want to continue— “actually working face-to-face with people who were experiencing really tough conditions, and being able to pay attention to what could be done for them.”

His Master’s research focused on coastal resilience in a different context, namely what it means to be in recovery from substance use. Downeast Maine has been particularly hard hit by the opioid crisis, with negative impacts on shellfishing communities. He also notes that although the opioid crisis occurring in these communities wasn’t the focus of the research he conducted as an undergraduate, there were connections. “Sustainability in general was the focus, and substance use came up because this is such a pressing issue in Maine and it is affecting coastal and Downeast communities in many different ways,” he says.

I saw the importance of academics outside the ivory tower for the first time, of seeing that the fishermen appreciated our presence there and that we were really listening to the problems they’re facing.

Carter Hathaway

Hathaway, whose Master’s research was funded in part by the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation and Broad Reach Fund, explains, “It was in the context of the Mitchell Center’s mission to find solutions for these fishing communities on Maine’s coast where my project fit.”

Says Hathaway, “We see things in the news all the time about overdoses and crime and death but according to my interviewees and just my general awareness, there’s often a perception that ‘these people don’t matter.” He adds, “We don’t necessarily hear the voices of those afflicted on a daily basis, so hearing these peoples’ voices is important.”

Hathaway notes that the project work was particularly apt for him because he has an innate “deep concern and curiosity towards the human condition and towards the well-being of the people in a community”—a central, underlying element of the Mitchell Center’s stakeholder-engaged, solutions-oriented mission.

At the end of his interviews Hathaway always asked what people thought the value of the research would be, “the utility of the work and what they hoped to see come out of, because it was important to know what they thought was important and not just what we as researchers thought,” he says.

What is clearly important to Hathaway and McGreavy are the multiple ways his research experience has been valuable. At a Dept. of Communication and Journalism colloquium, the two talked about the importance of cultivating research interests at the undergraduate level, and how their experiences together have enriched them both as researchers through the intersection of environmental and health communication in making a better Maine.

“The experience went really well and I attribute that very much to how invested Bridie and Tyler were in cultivating the research interest in me,” Hathaway says in summarizing the experience.

He adds, “It’s clear that the work does have the ability to have an impact on communities if you approach people not from the vantage point of ‘We are the researchers and we want to gather information from you’ but rather, treat it as more of a collaborative approach. Bridie and Tyler make it clear to those participating that ‘We want to listen to you first and see what your concerns and issues are, and see how our research can maybe help you with that.’”

Notes Quiring, the research experience went well not only for Hathaway but for clammers, community members, and others. “There are a lot of people whose lives have been touched and enriched by Carter’s work—mine being one.”

Now that Hathaway has had time to reflect on his undergraduate research experience, what words of advice would he offer other students?

“Both seek out opportunities and take advantage of those that come to you,” he says. “And don’t be afraid of the opportunity, even if it doesn’t seem all that interesting or relevant at the time. I was a journalism major and I thought doing research in the fishing community wasn’t within my interests, but you never know where the work might lead, and in my case it’s been incredibly rewarding.”