by Ronica Stromberg
Four years ago, Alexa Davis was a natural resources student defending her master’s degree with spotty Internet service and seeking a job during Covid lockdown. Today, she works with the director and deputy director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources as a data analyst who speaks to groups across the state about water management, law and policy.
She took home the Early Career Excellence Alumni Award at the School of Natural Resources Spring Banquet on April 6. On May 16, she co-hosted Governor Jim Pillen on a work podcast, “Around the Water Cooler with NeDNR.”
This type of work and accolades was not what the Omaha native said she expected to have while working on her undergraduate degrees at Nebraska in environmental restoration science and water science.
“One of the main drivers of wanting to go into environmental science is that I did not want to talk to people,” she said. “I just wanted to be out in nature and do science and not have to worry about politics or hurting anybody's feelings. And, slowly, throughout being in school and then being in my career, I've just really embraced my love for my job and what I do.”
At Nebraska, she joined clubs, took internships and volunteered, landing an environmental specialist job at NeDNR about a month after graduating with her master’s in natural resources. About a year and a half after that, the heads of the department asked her if she wanted to work in educational outreach with them as a data analyst.
“I always like to tell people that I was too extroverted for the technical team,” she said with a laugh.
In her current position, she manages and analyzes data on the supply and demand of water across the state but also does outreach, co-hosts the department’s podcast with Dehvynne Ashmore and, along with Kent Zimmerman, is in charge at NeDNR of the Resilient Soils and Water Quality Act and the Nitrogen Reduction Incentive Program. She said she also works on the website, sets meetings for others, moves desks around and does whatever she can to help.
Read the complete article and see more images of Alexa at https://snr.unl.edu/aboutus/what/newstory.aspx?fid=1156