PhD student
I grew up in the suburbs of Boston, but became interested in the natural world working on a bat physiology project in high school. I went on to earn a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from New York University and MS in Zoology from the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. My master’s thesis was on the ecology and behavior of white-tailed deer in southern Illinois. It focused on survival, contact rates, and the impact of localized removal. I am broadly interested in ecological theory and applying ecological theory to management and conservation. When not working, I enjoy cooking, hiking, archery, and playing soccer.
For my dissertation, I will be exploring the terrestrial food web of the Pacific Northwest Forests. Specifically, I will be investigating the interactions between and survival of small carnivores and their prey at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. I hope to contribute to the impressive existing body of knowledge and to integrate the long-term data on small mammals, songbirds, and weather with carnivore data. A better understanding of this terrestrial food web will be important for conservation and basic ecology.