By Grace Johnston – Contributor
If you find yourself looking for Joen Blumer, you should start your search out in nature. Blumer spent most of his childhood in Vancouver, which he remembers as a blur of one outdoor adventure after another. He fondly remembers hiking through mountain ranges and sleeping in tents, attributing his love of nature to this outdoorsy upbringing. He has since moved to Quebec and is in his third year at Bishop’s.
Blumer has slowly tailored his post-secondary education to his love of science and the outdoors. He entered CEGEP in Social Sciences but was inspired to switch to Sciences after a game-changing biology class. He later applied to B.U. for a B.A. Biology Major but quickly transferred to the BSc Program, further leaning into the sciences. Now in his third year, Blumer’s BSc has branched into a Biodiversity and Ecology Concentration, where his true passions lie.
After three years of classroom learning and university labs, Blumer was itching for hands-on fieldwork. Under Dr. Sarathi Weraduwage’s guidance and with the benevolent help of the B.E.S.T. Project Fund, Blumer secured an internship at the Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale (IRBV). Blumer was initially intrigued by Montreal’s infamous Botanical Gardens that neighbour the IRBV. Throughout the summer he mapped and analysed data on primordia growth on Arabidopsis T. meristems, while occasionally sneaking off to explore the heavenly gardens.
He was supervised by biophysicist Anne-Lise Routier, head of the lab and research project. Blumer’s role was mainly geared towards analysis and not necessarily the fieldwork and fresh air he was craving, however, it was still an invaluable insight into real-life biological research. He described that in university, you follow a procedural recipe book of steps, but in a real research scenario, you need to problem-solve and think on your feet.
With the IRBV, Blumer was also privy to weekly PhD research presentations. He observed while his superiors critiqued students on minute details, developing his critical eye and providing him with an instruction manual for the ‘Dos and Don’ts of research. This breadth of exposure to different projects gave Blumer a small taste of academia and prompted him to imagine what his own research could entail.
Back in Lennoxville for his supposed final year of undergrad, he is now considering BU’s Honours in Biology program, followed by a Master’s Degree. However, he is also a wildlife enthusiast and his academic goals will certainly be interspersed with ‘gap years’ of travel and adventure. Blumer has an affinity for cheetahs; he finds them captivating and is saddened by their endangered status in Africa. He dreams of venturing into Big Cat conservation and wildlife photography, to be close to and protect these wild beasts. In decades to come, he wants to look back on his career and take pride in the environments he conserved and endangered species he protected from extinction.
Regardless of his path, Blumer is grateful for the generous support of the B.E.S.T. Project for “funding students’ dreams” (Blumer). He is excited to take the reins on a research project and launch himself into data collection and fieldwork – which, in his case, may be in an actual field.
The Campus 