Career stress – Alaska Voices

Identifying incompatibilities and resolving conflicts in research

December 8, 2025

Two women smile in front of a photoshopped background of a vast swampy tundra.

“When I see people, I’d say maybe more senior personnel, get very angry about this, that, or the other, it almost comes out as like, an entitlement to that anger. ʼI have every right in the world to be this way,ʼ and there’s no longer any room to be like, ʼHm, maybe we need to take a step back.ʼ” -Jessie Young-Robertson

Weathering winter rainstorms

May 17, 2021

Jim and Eric smile in front of a Denali.

“An actual inch of rain between November and March had only happened one other time in the climate record.” – Eric Stevens

Overcoming failure

March 22, 2021

Two women smile in front of a close-up picture of a snowflakeʼs ice crystals.

“And I think positive self talk is the kindest thing you can do to yourself. Being able to say ‘It’s OK, it takes time.’ You know what you need to do, so why not start?” – Dina Abdel-Fattah

Loud, critical, ambitious: sexism in science

September 3, 2020

Jessica and Jessie smile in front of a bed of lichen and leaves.

” I have to be able to be on my toes and defend all of the work that my team has done, and yet if I question any of the work any of the other teams have done, immediately I’m called in the office.”

Uneven ground: permafrost thaw and burnout

August 24, 2020

Jessiea nd Kristin smile at the camera, a field of grain behind them.

“The more positive side of people’s brains would say oh, no, no, no, these are learning opportunities or whatever, but at some point it’s actually just failure.”

Sounding board on the Antarctic ice sheet

August 20, 2020

Tow women lean their heads together in front of a blue iceberg.

“So once I found this role as a peacemaker, I was like, OK, this is my role on the team. It’s not so much science, it’s more communication.”

Another day at work

August 17, 2020

Lily and Bo smile at the camera in front of a mountain.

“Being able to move on and feeling supported by your superiors, takes away so much of the trauma that women often experience when they try to report.”

A day in the life of a university scientist

June 29, 2020

Audrey and Shannon, two women who look similar with dark brown hair have their arms around eachother in front of snowy trees.

“There’s a culture here of women, working moms, who are wanting to, outdoing each other, like, ‘Well I put the baby down at 8 but I still had to stay up until 2 in the morning to finish this grant.'”

Growing a collaboration

June 15, 2020

Jessie wears a "Northern Ecohydrology" sweatshirt, and Bob wears a "Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay" T-shirt.

“I think what I’ve been focusing on is how can we take something that can spill out of people in such a negative way and make it neutral?”