Sailor turned scientist

U.S. Navy veteran Bristol Rigby hails from Missouri — a long way from any sea turtles. But while stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, she started volunteering with turtle conservation groups, which helped shape her career path. As an undergraduate student in the University of Florida's Wildlife Conservation and Ecology department at UF/IFAS, she works with researchers who are documenting sea turtle population dynamics in the Gulf of Mexico, which helps create better plans to protect them.