News:
10/27/2021: Paper submitted to Journal of Mammalogy on suburban mesopredator activity periods!
10/08/2021: Manuscript published in Wildlife Society Bulletin!
12/07/2020: Paper led by labmate accepted into PNAS! Stay tuned!
10/02/2020: Natural history note documenting the scavenging of beaver meat by Thamnophis sirtalis submitted to Herpetological Review!
10/27/2021: Paper submitted to Journal of Mammalogy on suburban mesopredator activity periods!
10/08/2021: Manuscript published in Wildlife Society Bulletin!
12/07/2020: Paper led by labmate accepted into PNAS! Stay tuned!
10/02/2020: Natural history note documenting the scavenging of beaver meat by Thamnophis sirtalis submitted to Herpetological Review!
Wildlife science is the application of ecological knowledge while considering the needs of both wildlife and humans. Often, this means working to conserve imperiled species or dealing with invasive species. Solving modern-day conservation issues requires a wide variety of field and analytical techniques, while collaborating with diverse partners and working to address the (often conflicting) needs of stakeholders. It also means working in an increasingly urban world.
As a broadly trained wildlife scientist and natural historian, I use tools such as radio-telemetry, camera traps (right), occupancy modeling, and geographic information systems to answer questions about wildlife ecology, management, and conservation in both wild and urban landscapes. Thus, my research integrates wildlife biology (natural history and population ecology) with urban ecology, conservation biology, and landscape ecology. I typically work with herpetofauna and (more recently) mammalian carnivores.
I feel that it is critically important that scientists communicate (effectively!) with the public. In addition to giving public talks and working with different outreach groups, I maintain the social media accounts for the Illinois Chapter of The Wildlife Society, the TWS Student Development Working Group, and the Facebook Snake Identification Group, which has over 200,000 members (yes, two hundred thousand... see our poster here) and identifies hundreds of snake ID requests every week.
As a broadly trained wildlife scientist and natural historian, I use tools such as radio-telemetry, camera traps (right), occupancy modeling, and geographic information systems to answer questions about wildlife ecology, management, and conservation in both wild and urban landscapes. Thus, my research integrates wildlife biology (natural history and population ecology) with urban ecology, conservation biology, and landscape ecology. I typically work with herpetofauna and (more recently) mammalian carnivores.
I feel that it is critically important that scientists communicate (effectively!) with the public. In addition to giving public talks and working with different outreach groups, I maintain the social media accounts for the Illinois Chapter of The Wildlife Society, the TWS Student Development Working Group, and the Facebook Snake Identification Group, which has over 200,000 members (yes, two hundred thousand... see our poster here) and identifies hundreds of snake ID requests every week.
About Me: I earned my BS in Wildlife Science at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where I was president of our student chapter of TWS and captain of our quiz bowl team (Go Stumpies!). For my MS at Hofstra University, I studied the spatial ecology and biogeography of eastern hog-nosed snakes. For my PhD at Northern Illinois University, I partnered with the Lake County Forest Preserve District to better understand the ecology, conservation and impacts of management of wildlife in a suburban preserve district (from salamanders to mesocarnivores). I'm currently the Postdoctoral Associate in Urban Wildlife Ecology and Evolution at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, and a Visiting Scholar at SUNY-ESF working on the SquirrelMapper project.
During, after, and between my undergrad, masters, and PhD, I've been fortunate to have worked for the USFWS, USDA, the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, consulting firms, various universities (Purdue, Florida State, Southern Illinois), and a municipal conservation department. I've worked with both game and non-game species, as well as in the control of nuisance species. I also spent two years as an environmental educator, which, although exhausting, was probably the most rewarding part of my career so far.
During, after, and between my undergrad, masters, and PhD, I've been fortunate to have worked for the USFWS, USDA, the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, consulting firms, various universities (Purdue, Florida State, Southern Illinois), and a municipal conservation department. I've worked with both game and non-game species, as well as in the control of nuisance species. I also spent two years as an environmental educator, which, although exhausting, was probably the most rewarding part of my career so far.
