<p>
	<em>In this three-part series, Au Sable has asked three students who took out &#39;Molecular Tools for the Field Biologist&#39; course to describe their journey into molecular ecology.&nbsp;Biological science is a dynamic and ever-changing discipline, full of new and emerging areas. To keep our students at the forefront of environmental work, Au Sable began a class focusing on the revolutionary changes taking place in environmental and ecological science through molecular genetics. As the testimonies attest, Molecular Tools makes traditional naturalists uneasy at the thought, but quickly wins over students who see how it can be used to make a powerful difference in ecology, systematics, and conservation.</em></p>
<h2>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}tommy_mcelrath_research-150pxl(1).png" style="width: 150px; height: 203px; float: right;" />Tommy McElrath (Covenant College) - PhD candidate, Department of Entomology, University of Georgia</h2>
<p>
	I&rsquo;ve never liked molecular biology. I&rsquo;ve always idealized the traditional naturalist from the good old days. So when I was encouraged to take &#39;Molecular Tools for the Field Biologist&#39; back in the summer of 2010, I was skeptical, to say the least.</p>
<p>
	Fortunately, I decided to take the class anyway. What I found was that this class really brought molecular biology alive, connecting the dots between the abstract biochemistry of DNA and proteins into the traditional field work of collection, observation, and natural history. Molecular tools opened my eyes to the world of using molecules and cellular biology to bolster our knowledge at every other level of biology, from the naming and organization of species to the ecology of populations and their conservation.</p>
<p>
	The crux of the class was that it shattered the misconceptions a field biologist like me had about the molecular and biochemical realms of biology. I thought that molecular biology could only be used for questions posed at the molecular level. Through this course though, I realized it could help to answer questions that I was deeply interested in. Such questions as, &ldquo;How do these two organisms relate to each other?&rdquo; or &ldquo;Is this population of endangered mammals fit enough to survive?&rdquo; Questions that seem like obviously non-molecular questions can actually be informed by molecules like DNA.</p>
