What is your academic history? While completing a B.S. in Environmental Science at the University of Oregon I participated in the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. With REU funding I designed and conducted lab experiments with a captive leaf-cutter ant colony to test the importance of wear on their zinc-enriched teeth. The preliminary findings from my lab work inspired two field investigations, at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama, and later at the Tiputini Biodiversity Research Station in Ecuador.Ultimately, my passion for botany and ecology led me to seek out other opportunities to utilize and expand my skills in these areas. I worked for the Institute for Applied Ecology, affiliated with Oregon State University, as a conservation biology intern. There I contributed to 18 distinct projects around the state of Oregon including monitoring rare plants, reintroducing sensitive species, and testing management techniques (e.g. prescribed fire) to control invasive species. I went on to work as a biological science technician for the US Geological Survey, gathering field data to characterize post-fire recovery and successional trends in sagebrush communities of the Northern Columbia Basin. In addition, I spent many years working in environmental education before pursing graduate studies. Most recently, I worked at NatureBridge, the largest educational partner of the National Park Service. NatureBridge has provided residential field science programs to over 1 million K-12 students in Yosemite, Golden Gate, Olympic, Santa Monica Mountains, Channel Islands, and Prince William Forest National Parks. As Science and Technology Project Manager, I spearheaded organization-wide public participation in scientific research initiatives, forming a cross-campus team to develop long-term ecological monitoring projects at their respective national park location.

What is your research focus? In my current position as a PhD candidate in the Ecosystems Dynamics lab at Montana State University, I seek to expand our collective understanding of the interactions between vegetation and fire in a changing climate. I use computer simulation modeling to address the following questions: (Q1) What are the critical thresholds of climatic conditions and fire activity that if exceeded, would shift forests from a net sink to a net source of carbon? (Q2) How may fire size and frequency change in the future? And will fire size and frequency become limited by fuel accumulation? (Q3) Will forest communities contract and shrubland/grassland communities expand? To what extent? (Q4) Will forest tree species composition shift to favoring more drought and fire tolerant species?

What is/are your career aspiration(s)? My long-term goal is to become a research ecologist who bridges the gap between academic research and management, and promotes public engagement in scientific research.

Why did you choose to attend MSU for grad school? The Ecology Department at MSU has a strong reputation for its contributions to the field of ecology and conservation biology. Additionally, there were several individual professors I was eager to work with and I was fortunate enough to find one who had funding. 

What is one non-academic interest/activity that you have/do? I enjoy running for exercise, stress relief, and to spend time outside.