Becoming a scientist-practitioner or practitioner-scientist – advice to students and people that care about them

A scientist-practitioner is a trained scientist in a practitioner position. A practitioner-scientist is a trained scientist in a research or academic position focusing on translating science into practice. Both require balancing a number of seemingly contradictory pairs of requirements. (1) Maintain a broad perspective, with a solid understanding of the fundamentals: take a policy and soil science class instead of 2 courses in ‘environmental science’. (2) Don’t sweat the small stuff, except when it matters: learn how to predict which small stuff matters. (3) Leave egos (yours and your advisors) at the door.