While I have been told “no” or “it won’t happen for me many times”, I have never let these words discourage me from pursuing my passions. My story started with my desire to pursue a marine biology degree. I chose this career path due to my enamoration with sea animals, which later developed into a desire to work with their conservation. After graduating, I found a developed persistence from applying to jobs. After hundreds of rejection letters due to a competitive, male-dominated market, I finally obtained my first position in the field, of which, I’ve been in ever since. During this time I have been recognized with multiple prestigious awards, became a published scientific author, and was recently accepted into a prominent work funded return to school program. I am now back in school for my PhD. Throughout my career, I’ve honed in on a desire to make a difference and create a professional impact by updating best management practices for coral reef restoration in the face of unprecedented events, which have led to their continued decline. Throughout this time, I have also been working on my flight training journey. While it has been “bumpy”, I have taken inspiration from many stories I have heard about female aviators that have paved the way. Their perseverance in the face of adversity has motivated me to push on when faced with my own struggles and encouraged me to think outside the box to achieve my own career goals. I am a firm believer that you get out what you put into something, so I have dove headfirst into aviation involvement and routinely seek out opportunities to expand my knowledge. Additionally, personal drive developed to overcome my hardships as well as being able to communicate about my flight training/career complications, is experience that now crosses over to empowering others to believe they can achieve their own professional dreams. My aspirations now include a dual STEM career path. Originally flying over the Florida Keys and the coral reef introduced me to the possibilities of using seaplanes to help study and preserve marine wildlife. With my marine biology career and SCUBA experience as a scientific diver, I have seen the value to providing seaplane based transport. This would allow rapid response to coral reefs affected by natural disasters and physical damage, something unprecedented in the marine and aviation fields. These seaplane trips for researchers and/or their samples that currently take days could be reduced to a few hours, resulting in reduced stress on species and reduced staff time out of office. Furthermore, seaplanes could be utilized for accessing remote areas and offshore sea turtle releases. My goal to make a positive impact on the world through my career has already started. I created a scholarship to award aspiring seaplane pilots a seaplane rating in partnership with Seaplane Pilots Association. I have also created a Facebook group for women seaplane pilots and those that aspire to be to serve as an information sharing outlet and a safe outlet for those with questions. In a few short years, we have grown to almost 1,400 members, which is over half the current female seaplane pilot population. Obtaining my PhD will allow me to be more respectable by researchers in my aviation journey who may not have considered aviation transport in the past. With a planned successful business model, I will be able to uplift other women by offering unique flying opportunities while sharing our passions across multiple STEM fields.

While I have been told “no” or “it won’t happen for me many times”, I have never let these words discourage me from pursuing my passions. My story started with my desire to pursue a marine biology degree. I chose this career path due to my enamoration with sea animals, which later developed into a desire to work with their conservation. After graduating, I found a developed persistence from applying to jobs. After hundreds of rejection letters due to a competitive, male-dominated market, I finally obtained my first position in the field, of which, I’ve been in ever since. During this time I have been recognized with multiple prestigious awards, became a published scientific author, and was recently accepted into a prominent work funded return to school program. I am now back in school for my PhD. Throughout my career, I’ve honed in on a desire to make a difference and create a professional impact by updating best management practices for coral reef restoration in the face of unprecedented events, which have led to their continued decline. Throughout this time, I have also been working on my flight training journey. While it has been “bumpy”, I have taken inspiration from many stories I have heard about female aviators that have paved the way. Their perseverance in the face of adversity has motivated me to push on when faced with my own struggles and encouraged me to think outside the box to achieve my own career goals. I am a firm believer that you get out what you put into something, so I have dove headfirst into aviation involvement and routinely seek out opportunities to expand my knowledge. Additionally, personal drive developed to overcome my hardships as well as being able to communicate about my flight training/career complications, is experience that now crosses over to empowering others to believe they can achieve their own professional dreams. My aspirations now include a dual STEM career path. Originally flying over the Florida Keys and the coral reef introduced me to the possibilities of using seaplanes to help study and preserve marine wildlife. With my marine biology career and SCUBA experience as a scientific diver, I have seen the value to providing seaplane based transport. This would allow rapid response to coral reefs affected by natural disasters and physical damage, something unprecedented in the marine and aviation fields. These seaplane trips for researchers and/or their samples that currently take days could be reduced to a few hours, resulting in reduced stress on species and reduced staff time out of office. Furthermore, seaplanes could be utilized for accessing remote areas and offshore sea turtle releases. My goal to foster a community of women empowered by knowledge, driven by curiosity, and ready to contribute to the STEM field has already started. I created a scholarship to award aspiring women seaplane pilots a seaplane rating in partnership with Seaplane Pilots Association. I have also created a Facebook group for women seaplane pilots and those that desire to be to serve as an information sharing outlet and a safe outlet for those with questions. In a few short years, we have grown to almost 1,400 members, which is over half the current female seaplane pilot population. Obtaining my PhD will allow me to be more respectable by researchers who may not have considered aviation transport in the past. With a planned successful business model, I will be able to uplift other women by offering unique flying opportunities while sharing our passions across multiple STEM fields, making a difference across multiple disciplines.

While I have been told “no” or “it won’t happen for me many times”, I have never let these words discourage me from pursuing my passions. My story started with my desire to pursue a marine biology degree. I chose this career path due to my enamoration with sea animals, which later developed into a desire to work with their conservation. After graduating, I found a developed persistence from applying to jobs. After hundreds of rejection letters due to a competitive market, I finally obtained my first position in the field, of which, I’ve been in ever since. During this time I have been recognized with multiple prestigious awards, became a published scientific author, and was recently accepted into a prominent work funded return to school program. I am now back in school for my PhD. Throughout my career, I’ve honed in on a desire to make a difference and create a professional impact by updating best management practices for coral reef restoration in the face of unprecedented events, which have led to their continued decline. Throughout this time, I have also been working on my flight training journey. While it has been “bumpy”, I have taken inspiration from many stories I have heard about aviators that have paved the way. Their perseverance in the face of adversity has motivated me to push on when faced with my own struggles and encouraged me to think outside the box to achieve my own career goals. I am a firm believer that you get out what you put into something, so I have dove headfirst into aviation involvement and routinely seek out opportunities to expand my knowledge. Additionally, personal drive developed to overcome my hardships as well as being able to communicate about my flight training/career complications, is experience that now crosses over to empowering others to believe they can achieve their own professional dreams. My aspirations now include a dual career path. Originally flying over the Florida Keys and the coral reef introduced me to the possibilities of using seaplanes to help study and preserve marine wildlife. With my marine biology career and SCUBA experience as a scientific diver, I have seen the value to providing seaplane based transport. This would allow rapid response to coral reefs affected by natural disasters and physical damage, something unprecedented in the marine and aviation fields. These seaplane trips for researchers and/or their samples that currently take days could be reduced to a few hours, resulting in reduced stress on species and reduced staff time out of office. Furthermore, seaplanes could be utilized for offshore sea turtle releases. My goal to create a professional impact now is to start an aerial marine biology business utilizing seaplanes. I have confidence I will achieve my professional passions due to my dedication, attention to detail, and excellent planning and organization skills. In addition, I have continuously been increasing my aviation involvement through numerous outlets to gain experience and solidify a strong foundation for my future adventure.

As a marine biologist for over 16 years, some have questioned my desire to pursue another career, however, I could not turn away from the draw of aviation and the unique perspective a dual career could afford me. Originally flying over the Florida Keys and the coral reef introduced me to the possibilities of using seaplanes to help study and preserve marine wildlife and solidified my desire to become a pilot. With my marine biology career and SCUBA experience as a scientific diver, I have seen the value to providing seaplane based transport. This would allow rapid response to reefs affected by natural disasters and physical damage, something unprecedented in the marine and aviation fields. These seaplane trips for researchers and/or their samples that currently take days could be reduced to a few hours, resulting in reduced stress on species and reduced staff time out of office. Furthermore, seaplanes could be utilized for offshore sea turtle releases. My goal is to work in the aviation industry by starting an aerial marine biology business, which would expand general aviation seaplane service for scientific use. Additionally, offered flight instruction will fill a gap for seaplane training and safety on the west coast of Florida while also affording an opportunity to educate students on the marine conservation missions the business was involved with. I have found as I fly with those who have more flight time, the use of checklists becomes less and less. I pride myself on the continued use of checklists to maintain safety in my flying practices. Additionally, I continuously pursue training that will expand my knowledge to make me a safer pilot. I see the value to prioritize all safety trainings I can complete to lower my chances of being an accident statistic. As a private pilot, I completed my spin endorsement to understand how to avoid getting myself into a bad situation, but if I did, how to get out. Additionally, I have taken seaplane egress training to learn multiple ways to get out of a submerged aircraft successfully. Currently, I am looking to pursue a 50hr. advanced seaplane training course in Canada that will allow me to be a safer seaplane pilot and be more prepared for commercial float operations. The U.S. flight training industry does not offer an in depth advanced seaplane training course like this. My plan is for my business to become the first that offers it in the U.S. to expand the safety envelope for seaplane flying. I believe offering this sort of advanced training will cross over successfully to those flying in unique areas such as Alaska. To describe how I overcame my challenges in aviation, I must first discuss my learning experience from when I decided to go back to school for my master’s. Before being accepted into the University, I had to seek out an advisor that would accept me into their lab. Due to a lower GPA I had during undergrad because of family issues going on at the time, I had multiple advisors turn me down as a student. Some even went as far to say that no one would ever accept me at any University. While an unexpected blow because I was in a different situation at that time and knew what I was capable of, I had to step back and regroup. I reformulated my plan and what I wanted to do after talking to multiple human resources and admittance personnel. While a delay to my original plan, I decided to enroll in some courses at a community college for a year to prove my ability on a more recent timeline. I also changed my admittance application to focus more on what I had accomplished since graduating from undergrad 13 years prior to applying for my master’s vs. my undergrad GPA. This combination and coming away from the community college with a 4.0 GPA had multiple advisors willing to take me on when I reached back out. Since I was unsure what to expect, I had reached back out to the same advisors that had previously turned me down along with one new one who had just been hired. With grace and a new sense of pride, I was able to turn down the advisors who had turned me down and went with the new advisor. I could not have asked for a greater outcome as I graduated at the top of my class, received an award for best thesis, and was able to publish multiple scientific journals that are regularly cited today. This situation taught me how to redirect to overcome challenges and is a story that is used in my mentoring today to help current and aspiring pilots not get discouraged when something does not happen on their original timeline as having the setback just may turn out to have a better outcome. I have taken my own advice to not get discouraged multiple times as I have hit challenges with roadblocks in obtaining my flight training goals on my original timelines as well as the increased flight training costs to maintain proficiency. Another significant challenge for me are the written tests. Rote memorization or “picking the best answer” of the options, is not how I learn. I overcome this by not taking my writtens until I am close to being checkride ready. This gives me the hands on experience with flying and discussion during ground that allows me to better understand the questions and ultimately pass the tests. I share this as a possible solution for others that struggle with the tests. While I am aware of my personal qualities and skills that contribute to my success in aviation, the following is a quote from a recent recommendation that really says it all. “Kelli is self-motivated, dedicated, hardworking and highly intelligent; she also has excellent planning and organization skills. She grasps difficult concepts, thinks critically and proactively, and acts swiftly. She quickly surpasses senior staff in her understanding and outperforms her colleagues. She seamlessly manages her full-time Ph.D. coursework while still functioning as a full-time employee. Managing studies in a Ph.D. program while fully employed is not an easy task. It requires dedication, self-commitment, and devotion to both, along with excellent organizational skills. On top of all of this, she continues her flight training and duties as a single mom, accomplishing all successfully with what seems like little effort. She is someone you want on your project team because she is always several steps ahead and helps any team meet its deadlines and avoid pitfalls.” In addition, I believe I will be successful because I have continuously been increasing my aviation contacts and involvement through numerous outlets to gain experience and solidify a strong foundation for my future adventure. While doing this, I volunteer with multiple aviation organizations. All of these events and opportunities, including duties for my regular job, have increased my leadership skills, ability to serve as a role model, and ultimately contribute to my continued success in aviation. I am an avid supporter of aspiring aviators and have engaged with them in multiple ways. My favorite leadership trait that has been developed over the years is mentoring. Securing a strong mentor myself has allowed me to grow in aviation, avoid/overcome negative situations, and taught me how else I can develop my own mentoring skills. I am a strong advocate for everyone to obtain a mentor and routinely engage with those asking questions. Personal drive developed to overcome my hardships as well as being able to communicate about my flight training struggles, is experience that now crosses over to encouraging and inspiring others with their own flying goals. Talking to these aviators and letting them know how I was able to achieve my goals, even with setbacks, has pushed some of them to continue, when they were ready to give up. I have regularly received emails from women who have talked to me before, or have just read about me and my story, and have reached out to say how it inspired them. I also assist other aviators with their own scholarship applications even when that puts them in direct competition with myself. To me, their achievements are just as important as my own. Furthermore, I have become an active leader in the aviation community in order to help inspire more underrepresented people of all ages, especially those that think they may not be able to become a pilot themselves. As I have grown in aviation and found my passion with seaplanes, I co-founded the Facebook group Seaplane Sirens (Women who charm the winds). My co-founder and I began the Seaplane Sirens as a way to increase the number of women seaplane pilots and serve as a safe outlet for those with questions. This group has a dedicated leadership (including myself), that has been able to mentor and inspire current and future female seaplane pilots by serving as a positive, internationally inclusive group, providing international and local seaplane networking connections, current seaplane job listings, scholarship offerings, and accurate resource material to grow and diversify the community. I have put together seaplane “guides” on the page to share all things seaplane in one easy to find place and initiated an engaging “Siren of the Week” post where a woman in the seaplane industry or just one that flys for fun, is highlighted. This group is now routinely shared within the aviation community when ladies ask general questions about seaplanes. I am also a Field Director for the Seaplane Pilots Association (SPA). Through this position, I speak with other seaplane pilots about SPA’s advocacy to promote and preserve water flying, attend splash-ins and other aviation events, and serve as one of the only woman representatives. I regularly update their Water Landing Directory and encourage other members to do the same, as it is member driven and the only publication that shows water bodies where you can and cannot land and possible safety issues to be aware of. There is not an FAA published document for this available. I have also increased leadership efficiency and support within the organization by drafting “Guidelines for new Field Directors” to educate Field Directors what is expected of them including how they can provide support in their community. It is through my solid, developed, relationship I first approached SPA to offer a woman seaplane rating scholarship as a way to increase underrepresentation in the community. My due diligence and problem solving skills have resulted in a permanent partnership between SPA and Seaplane Sirens to offer yearly scholarships in perpetuity. Since 2021, I have assisted with securing over $40,000 in donations for the “Women Making a Splash” scholarship and am in process of securing additional donations for 2025. Volunteering and mentoring has changed my life because I can confidently say that 9 times of out 10 this and the networking that has resulted from it has led to multiple opportunities to make the connections needed to advance my own aviation career. I have personally seen the success achieved from mentoring and support and plan to continue offering this myself. I have confidence I am a strong candidate for this scholarship due to my proven record of achieving goals, attention to detail, resourcefulness, and my continued support of and involvement with other aviators as a positive role model/mentor. As a driven, obstacle-overcoming, ambitious woman in not just one, but multiple male-dominated industries, I will also be able to show others that with the support of mentors, determination, and a little extra effort, you can achieve anything. I am qualified to achieve this due to my experiences and connections through multiple sources. Support from this scholarship will allow me to achieve my aviation goal to complete the 50hr. advanced seaplane training course on a more expedited timeline as it is currently unattainable financially.