Welcome to Serendipitous Biologist. My name is Matea Djokic and I, as my blog name would suggest, have stumbled serendipitously into the world of biology. I am so thankful for it. This blog chronicles my adventures as biologist, graduate student, and outdoor enthusiast!
I grew up thinking that I would be an engineer or doctor. But when I got to college, I didn’t enjoy the classes I took. I changed degrees quite a bit and finally landed on psychology. Human behavior has always fascinated me. But I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to BE. The only thing I knew was that I loved animals, being active, and being outside.
Towards the end of my undergrad, I worked in a lab in the medical school at UCSD and fell in love with the research. I soon found out that some people actually made a living studying animals! They even spent days, weeks, or months in the field collecting data. Now that is what I wanted to do.
With a psychology degree, I really didn’t know how to change fields. I applied to >30 jobs doing work with wildlife after I finished my undergrad. I only received one offer. It wasn’t exactly what I imagined – working with fish in South Dakota. I had never been to South Dakota or ever worked with fish.
I accepted the position and moved my life to South Dakota. It was the most formative 6 months of my life and was the catalyst to lead me to where I am today! I fell in love with fish and realized that I could lead a very fulfilling life as a biologist.
After my internship, I moved to Montana for a master’s in Fish and Wildlife Management at MSU. Then I moved to Southern California for a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCI. Along the way, saw the most beautiful places during road trips, backpacking trips, and fieldwork excursions.
I’ve seemed to find a life that melds together my love for animals, science, and the outdoors and I couldn’t be happier about it.
I want to use this blog as a platform to record my adventures, but also to help others with similar interests if I can. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a fish biologist when I was growing up. Or that I would ever actually go on a 5 day backpacking trip. I mean, who actually did those things?
If I can help anyone realize their interests in conservation, biology, outdoor adventure, etc. then I accomplished my goal with this blog.
If you’d like to send me an email, you can reach me at serendipitousbiologist@gmail.com.