PhD Student (NSF Fellow)
Growing up in Minnesota, my love of wilderness was born when I first heard wild wolves howl. By a delightful twist of fate, my Master’s research in the Levi lab now centers on the foraging ecology of coastal wolves on the Alaskan peninsula in Katmai National Park. Using noninvasive DNA sampling and other monitoring techniques, our project will illuminate the fascinating lives of wolves throughout Katmai’s uniquely pristine, bear-dense, and salmon-rich maritime environment.
Although I am principally interested in carnivore behavioral ecology, the eclectic nature of my past research reflects my broad curiosity about wildlife science. As an undergrad at Emory University, I worked on projects concerning the phenology of plant-pollinator interactions, the movement of urban coyotes, bumblebee social learning, Amazonian bat species richness, and salamander population dynamics. Prior to beginning at OSU, I completed a year-long Fulbright research project on arctic fox conservation and interactions among tundra carnivores in northern Norway. I remain excited about many different things within and beyond ecology, including Buddhist philosophy, Cenozoic Era paleontology, and the fantastic world of fungi.