Hamlin discusses alligator encounter for The Story Collider
Heather Hamlin, an associate professor of aquaculture at the University of Maine, discussed her first field research assignment — an alligator encounter — for a segment on The Story Collider with the theme “Strength.” Hamlin described the day she was asked to fill in for a field position even though it was well outside her comfort zone as a lab researcher. That day, even though she didn’t think she could, Hamlin wrangled an alligator and managed to hold it down while the other researchers took blood samples. “I’ve really thought about what it was that made me think that I couldn’t do it, and why someone else’s opinions of what I can and can’t do were so much more powerful than my own and, in fact, what could happen when that’s reversed,” Hamlin said. “So that was really a watershed moment for me in understanding what my limits are. I really think, from that point on, I’ve been relatively fearless not only in science but in other aspects of my life.”