Meet Our New Staff Member, Jera Dills!

Jera started with Alabama Water Watch and the AU Water Resources Center in February 2024 and will help with marketing and communications, event organizing, volunteer coordination, data processing, and more! She is a fantastic addition to AWW and the WRC as she is very enthusiastic about her work and brings a positive energy to everything she does!

We’d like to officially welcome Jera to the team and want you all to get to know her a little better through the Q&A below.

What made you want to work with AWW/AUWRC? 

I have always had a strong connection to the natural world and have always felt a passion to protect and preserve it. When I was in college, I dreamt of an opportunity where I could both spend time outdoors and somehow also make a positive impact on the environment. When I read AWW’s mission, it really resonated with me, and I am very excited and thankful to be able to work with a team towards cleaner and healthier water ways in Alabama!  

Also, meeting the staff made me feel even more comforted in my decision to join. We are a predominantly female staff which is powerful, and I could tell the environment within would be supportive and inspiring.   

What past school, research, and work experience helped you prepare for your position here? 

I graduated in 2021 from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Ecology and Management. I loved the curriculum and I remember feeling so confident with my decision to pursue my degree. Some of the classes that especially ignited me were ecology, wildlife habitat assessment and management, intro to GIS, ornithology, natural resource policy, evolution and systemics, and plant ecology. I really loved how I was introduced to both the intricate minutia of our ecosystem while also getting familiar with broader social science topics. I also spent a fair amount of time volunteering to help with research projects including a white-tailed deer population study, a squirrel scatter hoarding behavior study, and a bat monitoring project. 

Following graduation, I joined Dr. Katelyn Kesheimer’s entomology lab. Under Katelyn’s wing, she introduced me to the world of insects, research, row crop management, and the power of outreach. I truly fell in love with every aspect. In my almost two years with the K Lab, my responsibilities included assisting with maintaining both a field of hemp and a greenhouse of hemp propagations, scouting and identifying insects of all kinds, traveling the state to collect data and shadow consulting appointments, conducting lab experiments, assisting in outreach and Extension efforts, conference planning, and so much more. 

Dr. K also further encouraged me to conduct my own research project and supported me in presenting my findings at the Cannabis Research Conference in Denver, Colorado, the Entomological Society of America Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, and Science of Hemp 2023 which our lab hosted here at Auburn University. I hold this experience very close to my heart.  

I also worked for Auburn University’s Native Bee Lab late 2022-2023! While there I learned skills like insect processing and pinning, bee and wasp identification and capturing, and woodworking. My favorite project I assisted with was monitoring selected sites of Callery pear trees around the city of Auburn. We would record the number of times we spotted honeybees landing on the flowers within a set amount of time and capture any other flying insect besides the honeybees that were visiting the flowers to take them back to the lab to be identified and recorded. I had a slight fear of bees and wasps before joining the Bee Lab, but now just consider them friends that need a little extra space!  

The knowledge, skills, and experiences I’ve acquired in school and post-graduation I believe perfectly sets me up to having a successful role with AWW/AUWRC. I truly enjoy continuing to learn and look forward to the memories I will make in this new position!  

What has been the most challenging part of the job so far? 

I think the most challenging aspect of my position so far has been the transition to more of an office role. I find myself really missing spending every day in the greenhouse and I miss interacting with insects! For now, I’ve declared myself the office pest control, where I’ve been catching and releasing the boxelder bugs, lady bugs, and stink bugs that make their way inside. Can you tell I’m PUMPED for the next biomonitoring training session? 

What have you liked the best? 

As of now, my favorite aspect has been helping with the AWW-RMS project! I really enjoyed the afternoon I accompanied Sergio and Carolina to the 13 monitoring sites around Auburn’s campus. I was able to practice the bacteriological testing and see the results the next day! I am finding it very interesting to learn the watershed system in my hometown. I also think I will really enjoy administering the monitor training sessions, I am looking forward to joining the session being held next month at the Birmingham Zoo! 

What is your favorite aquatic critter? 

It is so hard for me to choose a favorite of anything, but I think right now my favorite aquatic critter would be frogs. As a kid, I spent so much of my time searching for and catching frogs! I have numerous memories of playing in the creeks near my home, family members homes, and in parks searching for tad poles and even taking some home in mini aquariums to watch them grow! My favorite part was watching them start to grow their legs and laughing at how silly they looked. Even today, I would LOVE to adopt an Australian green tree frog, Litoria caerulea.