Shannan Yates has always had a passion for the environment, but it wasn’t until she met Dr. Chuck Knapp, vice-president, conservation and research at Shedd Aquarium at a conference on Bahamian natural history that she realized she didn’t necessarily have to work as a medical doctor.

The College of the Bahamas senior who is studying towards a Bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry says even though she pursued the course of study that she did, she did not have a desire to enroll in medical school, or don a white coat to work in a hospital.

Yates, 26, questioned whether she would make a difference in a “normal career” in a sterile hospital versus working as a field researcher.

“Everyone who takes biology with chemistry at COB are going to go off to medical school and become doctors, and I was very conflicted about it. I really wanted to do something with the environment and nature, and when I met Dr. Knapp, he said we’re having this expedition going to Exuma and we’re studying Bahamian rock iguanas, I was like okay, sign me up. Where do I sign?”

During the citizen science iguana research exhibition in the Exuma Cays, Yates says she fell in love with the iguanas during the eight-days she spent aboard the Coral Reef, the research vessel in the spring of 2104. Yates who blogged about her experience, and of which a post appeared in the June edition of the National Geographic submitted by the John G. Shedd Aquarium said the expedition with Dr. Knapp helped her clear up her indecisiveness and questions.

“My experience on that expedition — adjusting to the harsh weather and elements — proved to me that the white lab coat in some hospital was not going to be my career path,” wrote Yates. “I found an unexplainable love for field research and the Exuma Cays Rock Iguana (Cyclura cychlura giggisi) in an experience that I will never forget.”

After that initial experience, Yates was again invited by Dr. Knapp to join him on Shedd’s iguana research expedition to Andros Island to study its endemic iguana (Cyclura cychlura cuchlura). Yates took fecal samples, collected blood smears, performed ultrasound imaging and measuring the tail volume of the iguanas in their natural habitat. In total Yates and the team measured and released 46 iguanas (11 of which had already been documented in previous research), and found the species in three new locations.

The research she helped to conduct and the data collected contributed to Dr. Knapp’s research which focuses on how the diets of iguanas isolated from humans, and those who are being constantly fed junk food by tourists, affects them.

Yates said the expeditions provided her with a crash course in decades of knowledge obtained by Dr. Knapp and others like Dr. John Iverson (Earlham College), Dr. Susannah French (Utah State University), and Dr. Dale DeNardo (Arizona State University), information that would be valuable to her as she furthers her education.

The COB student says she would like to continue studying Bahamian rock iguanas. And that being able to continue to study Bahamian wildlife in general is a dream she would like to fulfill. She has also applied to schools to pursue a master’s degree program.

“The thing that I really like about it is that you can actually go out and collect data and interpret that data and get real time results, and it’s not a one-day thing — you have to continue with it. For the iguana expedition, Chuck has been doing it for some 25-plus years, and we have all this data because of that. And you need someone to continue collecting that data,” she said.

Of her experiences with Dr. Knapp who oversees Shedd’s on-site and global conservation research programs — including those of postdoctoral researchers studying aquatic issues in Guyana, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the Great Lakes — with the ultimate goal of saving wild animals and imperiled ecosystems, Yates said no classroom would ever teach her how to safely handle a wild animal the way Dr. Knapp has mastered over the years.

Dr. Knapp’s work has led to the expansion of West Side National Park in Andros, a 1.2 million acre national park that protects a large area of pristine coastal wetlands that are the most productive marine nursery in The Bahamas. It is prime habitat for bonefish and an important feeding area for the endangered West Indian Flamingo.

In the future Yates hopes to still be assisting with the conservation of iguanas. And she said she has encountered quite a few “raised eyebrows” over her decision.

“I’ve been asked if I was sure about this and whether I wouldn’t want to become a doctor, and I’m pretty sure,” she said.

For Yates who now plans to utilize her education outside a “normal job” she says for her education means preservation of the future.

“Without really knowing what’s happening now, what happened in the past, you really can’t appreciate what you have. And without that education there is no appreciation,” she said. “It would be a travesty if my great grandchildren don’t know or can’t see an iguana.”

Besides the expeditions with Dr. Knapp, Yates has engaged in a number of conservation activities this summer. Most recently she engaged in a six-week internship at Forfar Field Station on Andros; and participated in a seven-week internship with the Leon Levy Preserve on Eleuthera, a national park that is an environmental educational center as well as a facility for the propagation of native plants and trees.

As for penning the contribution posted by Shedd Aquarium for National Geographic, Yates said described it as an “awesome” experience for her.

“When [Dr. Knapp] came to me with the idea of blogging about my experience, I was like yes. I wanted to raise awareness [and show] that [The Bahamas] does have students here that are capable of doing fieldwork and they’re willing to do it. And we have students who don’t necessarily want to do the cookie-cutter or normal jobs,” she said.