Science has always been Audrey McCrary’s thing. Growing up, she enjoyed math and sciences classes, particularly the problem-solving challenges they presented. Combined with her family’s love for being outdoors, it is no wonder she chose a field that includes nature and scientific research.
“It was always just a natural inclination to go into something that was based on problem-solving,” McCrary said. “And I was always outside growing up, my family was always outdoors, camping, hiking and all that. So when I needed to pick a career, it made sense to pick something outside with science.”
Now as a program specialist for Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), McCrary works to improve water quality through watershed protection programs and improvement initiatives and conducts research through surveys to better help stakeholders.
From coast to coast
McCrary outdoors as a child
McCrary experienced many different types of nature growing up in a military family. With a Marine Corps helicopter pilot father, her family moved between California and Virginia multiple times throughout her childhood.
When graduating high school, McCrary decided to pursue wildlife science and chose to attend Texas A&M University.
During her studies, McCrary added a double major in rangeland management. While that course load was challenging, she knew she’d regret not taking the opportunity.
“Everything I’ve ever done academically has been me at some point saying, ‘I don’t want to do that, I’ll never do that,’ and then I still end up doing it,” McCrary said. “It’s this nagging feeling of, ‘I don’t want to do that, it seems hard or difficult,’ and then later on I think, ‘if I don’t do it I’ll never know.’”
After graduating, she returned to Virginia and worked as a biologist at the same Marine Corps base she spent much of her childhood on. Two years later, her boss suggested graduate school for more job opportunities.
McCrary applied to graduate research assistantships across the country and was eventually accepted to Mississippi State University for water quality and conservation.
“It was a great program,” McCrary said. “That’s when I turned more towards the social sciences.”
Her master’s project involved water quality sampling of one of Mississippi State’s beef and dairy cow research properties and creating a survey collecting data on the training needs of Extension agents in the southeastern United States. So different from her previous studies, social sciences classes and this new field fascinated McCrary.
“I went from a month before the first semester, tackling deer in the woods, and then a month later I was sitting in class learning about surveys,” McCrary said. “I didn’t understand the social science aspects, but I actually ended up enjoying those classes because they were so different.”
The challenge of understanding something so different was just what McCrary wanted.
“I enjoy growing through challenge,” she said. “That’s something that I realized towards the end of my masters, that it being hard doesn’t mean it would be avoided, you should give it a shot.”
McCrary in the woods with a fawn in Virginia
Returning to Texas
Completing her masters in 2020, McCrary found her way back to Texas, working for the USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service as a soil conservation technician in Caldwell.
Eventually, she wanted to return to a more research-focused and problem-solving role, and soon found that role with TWRI as a program specialist.
“Most of my work is alternative extension outreach and education,” McCrary said.
Traditionally, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s programs are in person, she explains, but over the past 20 years it has seen the need to have an online presence through videos, social media and other ways that could reach more people. Direct mailing programs can also deliver Extension materials directly to residents.
That’s where specialists like McCrary get involved, helping projects coordinate custom outreach and conduct research through mail campaigns and surveys she designs.
“Our goal is to find what the hang-ups are, what causes people to have issues that are affecting water quality and their basic perceptions of what they think about some of these water quality-related issues, so that we can better serve them through extension and research,” she said. “Other research that we do through our surveys is evaluating the impact of things like our educational mailers, social media posts, different extension activities and how people react to those and use them.”
Applying her social science research fundamentals to a new topic excites McCrary. While challenging, she likes having to think about the person on the other end of her surveys and how best to make it an enjoyable experience for them while also getting an accurate answer and needed data.
“It’s an art and a science at the same time,” McCrary said. “There are rules to generally follow when creating questions and making sure that people are going to understand your questions, making them as simple as possible.”
When summing up her educational and professional path to where she is currently, McCrary’s advice for those considering her field is to be as interdisciplinary as possible.
“I think I’m here because I’ve always pivoted and always been open to learning different things as I go,” she said. “My advice is learn to be a professional ‘Swiss Army Knife,’ learn lots of things and take opportunities when you see them to learn new things. Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.”
