Brady Dunaway’s lifelong love and respect for the outdoors make him a perfect addition to the Museum’s team! Brady is dedicated to preserving Mississippi’s wonderful places and species for current and future generations.
Get to know him better in this interview and learn more about how ecology is like a puzzle that ecologists work to solve.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED FOR MDWFP’S MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE?
I’ve worked for the Museum since June 1, 2023.
WHAT’S YOUR WORKDAY LIKE?
A work day can vary, rather substantially.
The less flashy tasks (but no less important) can include completing environmental review reports, uploading species’ or natural community information to our databases, and correspondence with others in the agency or the general public.
But, there are also outwardly exciting aspects.
I, like may others here, thoroughly enjoy getting out into the field and surveying natural communities for rare and threatened species. I also get a tremendous amount of fulfillment from outreach and education. Even interacting with my coworkers to see what projects and species they are working on is exciting!
ANY FUNNY WORK STORIES?
One pretty amusing situation I and some other coworkers found ourselves in happened when we were traveling to do field work in the northern part of Mississippi.
Our lodging for the night had a few quirks, a biggie being that the air conditioning did not work and this was in July! However, that is something which happens and you just kind of make do. I think everyone today has experienced a faulty air conditioner at some time or other. Most of the world lives without it today, and until recently in history, everyone lived without it.
A more discreet twist, that we discovered later in the evening, was the exceptionally healthy population of Brown Recluses (Loxosceles reclusa) sharing the space with us! They were under the beds, on the windowsills, even around the bases of the toilets! With my background in entomology, I was not so concerned, but a couple of my coworkers seemed to be a bit disconcerted by it. Thankfully, nobody was bitten. Our air conditioning even got fixed by the second night, too!
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION
I have always been a lover of the outdoors; much of this could be attributed to early, frequent exposure to television programs featuring such conservation icons as Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin. It also helped tremendously that we had forested family property that was ripe for exploration by a young kid.
I went to West Lincoln Attendance Center in Lincoln County for all of my grade school education. And, while it was a great school, I think the woods taught me more than any classroom at that time.
In 2014, I started at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, where I sang with the Sojourners and Baptist Student Union’s Worship band, and founded a naturalist club for those who enjoyed the local outdoors.
From there, I went to Mississippi State University and pursued a bachelor’s in environmental science and a master’s in entomology, which I am still working towards completing. My master’s advisor is Dr. JoVonn Hill and my project is focused on native bee diversity of the Cumberland Plateau.
During my time at MSU, I worked in the Entomology Department, conducting surveys for invasive insect pests in MS, general biodiversity surveys across the south, curation of a living arthropod zoo, and copious outreach with the MS public.
Any hobbies are more excuses to stay outdoors, like birdwatching or native plants cultivation. I also maintain a moderate collection of cacti and succulents, leafy tropicals, and unusual or heirloom noninvasive exotics.
My greatest joys today, however, are the times spent with my wife, Jessica, and our year-and-a-half old daughter, Magnolia. And currently, we are awaiting the birth of our first son!
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS CAREER?
I’ve gotten to conduct fieldwork and see many diverse environments in many places, like Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Puerto Rico. I loved it all, but as is often said, there really isn’t anyplace like home.
I wanted to take what I have seen and learned and apply it to conservation, here in Mississippi. We have many natural communities and species here that need our help.
Mississippi has prairies and sandhills, rare little bees and orchids, and many other jewels that make our state an enriching place to live. But, they are at risk of being lost for a plethora of reasons.
With this career, I can fight for those wonderful places and species for myself, for my descendants, and for all other residents of the state who are interested in Mississippi’s natural heritage.
HOW DOES YOUR JOB CONTRIBUTE TO CONSERVATION?
There are many specializations in biology, such as herpetology, geology, or botany.
Ecology is the study of natural communities and how all these individual components come together and interact. To that end, one should be able to see both the forest and the trees.
You really begin to see a natural community as a puzzle; each component builds the picture of what is happening there. And each complete puzzle comes together, also, to give us a picture of the broader environment over regions.
Sometimes, pieces are missing, and it could be cause for alarm. Other times, we discover new pieces and our understanding of the picture becomes clearer.
Today, with threats of development; environmental modification; and invasive species, whole communities of species are at risk of permanent alteration or even elimination. Solving the puzzles becomes more important every day if we are to better conserve Mississippi’s diverse natural communities and many wonderful species.
By working with other public and private lands managers in the state, I get to aid in reducing or potentially reversing some of the declines that we are seeing, even in once-common communities or species.
ANY ADVICE FOR A STUDENT INTERESTED IN A BIOLOGY OR MUSEUM CAREER?
For anyone interested in working in biology or natural science museums, find interest in everything outdoors because it’s all connected.
Ask questions frequently, even if you are only asking them to yourself.
Learn your local history and how the local environment shaped human settlement or industries. Ponder how local human settlement or industry altered the environment. The natural environment is part of our history, but we are also a part of its history.
Talk to your elders and ask them what they remember about the natural world they knew. My grandparents had a much more intimate awareness of the environment than many people enjoy today. As farmers, hunters, and foragers, they depended on nature and noticed many substantial and subtle changes over their lives.
Read about early naturalists, exploring and documenting frontiers all over the world. Their interactions with wildlife, indigenous peoples, and the landscape were not always pretty, but almost always fascinating. And those documents are vital to understanding a rich and natural world that almost nobody today would recognize.
Of course, visit every natural science museum or collection, at every chance you get. I can speak for many others at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science when I say that we would love to have you visit. Ask about a tour of our collections or ways that you could volunteer! Experience is the best teacher.
