Background and Research Interest
Presently, I am PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Texas at Austin. I completed a Master's of Environmental Management at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. My master's research focused on determining spatial extents of vegetation community gradients in the Florida Keys, and elucidating the potential ecological drivers of community differentiation of this region. My undergraduate degree is in Natural Resources and Urban Forestry from the Ohio State University. Despite presently being primarily a computational ecologist, I have extensive field experience. For example, I have been involved in field work at Duke's FACE site, the Key West Botanical Garden, Dawes Arboretum, and participation in a biological assessment of the Smokey Mountain National Park.
My longterm research goal is to understand the population ecology of mobile species in a dynamically changing landscape, and to use this research is to inform land management and conservation decisions. My current research project focuses on understanding how climatic and hydrological factors inpact migratory animal habitat selection. I intent to use climate model outputs to determine how migratory pathways might be impacted by climate change, and to identify key conservation lands to mitigate some climate change ramifications.
Links
Nicholas School of the Evironment