His
interests blossomed even further in 1979 during
his third grade year of
elementary school while following his father to
Mazatlan, Mexico on a
six month sabbatical. He spent his days
exploring the beaches and
discovering the amazing coastal environment of
the eastern Pacific. At
this time he was introduced to his first sea
turtle that some fishermen
had caught in their shrimp nets. Upon his
return to the United States,
his interests peaked after viewing a PBS nature
program that examined
the life history of the leatherback turtle. The
take home was that from
the hatchlings that enter the sea to the
females that return to nest
very little is known. The questions arose, the
answers were unknown,
and the sea turtle biologist in Boyd was born.
Entering
San Diego State University on an athletic
scholarship, Boyd's career
path was uncertain, but his childhood interests
were still present. He
studied biology and specialized in the
zoological and animal sciences.
He also pursued marine and underwater science
and gained experience as
a marine organism collector. After graduating,
other career interests
took him down a slightly different path and
after some years he decided
to become a sea turtle biologist.
He
enrolled in some upper division biology courses
at his alma mater and
created a research assistantship at National
Marine Fisheries Service
and NOAA in La Jolla, CA. After
researching every program with a focus on sea
turtles, he attended
University of Central Florida as a result
primarily of his admiration
and familiarity with Dr. Peter Pritchard's and
Dr. Llewellyn Ehrhart's
work. His long range goals
included to continue his education through the
Ph.D. and post-doc
level, become a university professor, and
continue his sea turtle
research. His research interests included the
basking behavior of the
eastern Pacific green turtle in Hawaii,
Australia, and the Galapagos.
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