About Me

Growing up under the live oak trees in Central Florida, my interest in wildlife initially grew from a fascination with watching squirrels gather acorns, a truly remarkable number of animal encyclopedias, and frequent trips to the local zoo. For most of my childhood, I thought I would become a veterinarian, possibly a wildlife vet, but following a high school internship working at a local vet clinic, I knew it wasn't the career for me. I started my BS in Wildlife Ecology at LSU and stumbled across conservation genetics almost by accident. 

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As a Stamps Scholar, I also belonged to the LSU President's Future Leaders in Research (PFLR) program, which allocated funding to pay me for a few research hours per semester. As I searched for mentors, I was motivated by questions that had arisen while reading Jane Goodall's Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink, namely, how were species rescued from extinction by captive breeding programs with very small starting populations not suffering massively from inbreeding depression? I found Dr. Sabrina Taylor, who had previously worked on one of those rescued species, the red wolf, and discovered the field of conservation genetics.

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With guidance from Dr. Taylor and then-graduate-student Amie Settlecowski, my career in research effectively began. Over the course of four years in the Taylor lab, I learned DNA extraction and processing methods, next-generation sequencing library preparation, bioinformatics pipelines, and more. 

Since starting my higher education, I've been fortunate to have many opportunities to work hands-on with a variety of wildlife in wildly different places:

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• Seaside Sparrows in coastal Louisiana

• Fairywrens in northeastern Australia

• Sickle-winged Nightjars in northern Argentina

• Lizards, spiders, butterflies, and more in Los Angeles

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I graduated from Louisiana State University in 2020 with degrees in Natural Resource Ecology & Management and Spanish. 

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Now, as a PhD student at the University of Wyoming, when not at my desk or in the lab, I can be found at much higher elevations, admiring beaver dams, trapping frogs, and crossing my fingers I won't faceplant in the snow while cross-country skiing. 

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To learn more about my past and current research, visit the Research and Publications tabs, or check out my CV. 

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