Celeste Wieting, a doctoral student in geomorphology, has had to navigate graduate school like the rivers she studies, by mastering the art of changing course.

She grew up traveling to national parks and fell in love with whitewater rafting. So, it’s no surprise that her research focuses on how the removal of invasive plants affects river morphology. Part of her dissertation was dedicated to studying the effects of invasive species removal on the river within Canyon de Chelly National Monument. However, her research was abruptly halted when the Navajo Nation, overwhelmed by COVID-19, closed the monument to all visitors.

COVID-19 also disrupted a canoe trip Wieting had planned for fieldwork in Big Bend National Park. When the trip was rescheduled, Wieting was four months pregnant with her first child. One night during the trip, a flood forced the crew to drag their tents, gear and boats to higher ground – all by headlamp. The flooding interfered with data collection, but Wieting had enough data to complete this portion of the research.

Despite these obstacles, Wieting successfully pivoted through the unexpected challenges she faced while writing her dissertation.