Illustrated CV

An illustrated summary of the various experiences that have led me to where I am today, and inform my current interests and goals. I hope you find it interesting!

Undergraduate Experience: Oberlin College (2014-2018)

I enrolled at Oberlin College in Fall 2014, and I consider this experience the starting point of my journey toward my current goals. Since High School AP Environmental Studies, I knew that I wanted to learn more about the natural environment and humans' interactions with it. It is at Oberlin that I was able to solidify these interests, and begin a focus on Biology I also met several good friends and mentors at Oberlin, and learned more about myself and my interests. (btw my friends and I actually created our class banner, seen in the image at left!)

Undergraduate Research: Squirrels and chickadee alarm call study (January 2017-May 2017)

When I finally made the jump to a Biology Major (a little late, as it was already the end of my second year college!), I knew that I wanted to get involved in some department research the following winter term. As I read the Biology billboard describing various projects, this one, run by Dr. Keith Tarvin, caught my eye. The premise was that squirrels could listen in on the alarm calls used by chickadees and other songbirds to learn about the presence of potential predators. And, so I joined the project, and spent many hours trudging around Oberlin campus and the surrounding neighborhoods with partner, carrying around playback equipment to play various alarm calls at unsuspecting grey squirrels and record their behavior. I had a lot of fun with this project, learning about squirrel identification, studying and quantifying vigilance behavior responses, and about field work in general, and the unpredictability of some circumstances.

Undergraduate Research: EAB and ant Diversity at Chance Creek Nature Preserve (2017-2018)

When I worked on the squirrel project, I was mostly a field assistant, so I knew I wanted to try my hand at something a little more involved on my end before I finished my undergrad. Right before my final summer at Oberlin College, my advisor, Dr. Roger Laushman, said to me "you want to learn how to identify ants?" and I said "sure!" This was my first experience even considering research related to insects, and this experience, along with the amazing invertebrate biology course (run by Dr. Mary Garvin) I would take the following fall, solidified insects (and inverts in general) as a topic of interest to me, along with the behavior and interactions of birds and mammals.

My advisor does plant ecology research at a nearby nature preserve called Chance Creek, a site unfortunately ravaged by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). His projects study not only the effect of EAB on the plant community, but also on communities of insects. I spent the summer of 2017 learning to sort, point-pin, and ID a collection of around 500 ant specimens that had been previously collected by the lab using pitfall traps. Through this process, I gained a sense of pride at learning a brand new skill, and developed a keen interest in "insect sorting," working with and organizing collections, and with learning to identify organisms in general. I also learned how beautiful many ants are when viewed up close. This research project has definitely informed much of what I have done since.

Cincinnati Zoo: Interpretive Intern (September-December 2018)

My first big experience after college was working as an intern in the Interpretive Department at the Cincinnati Zoo. There, l learned about the daily care of the zoo's ambassador animals. I performed daily husbandry tasks such as feeding, providing enrichment to, and cleaning the enclosures of a wide variety of zoo animals, including, but not limited to birds, small mammals, snakes, insects, and lizards. I also learned how to teach the public about these animals and the mission of the zoo in a fun and engaging way. I developed an appreciation for educational institutions like zoos that strive to provide the best environment and care for its animals all while educating guests.

Alaska Sea Life Center: Eider/Research Fellow (February-April 2019)

In my first ever venture up to Alaska, I stayed in the small coastal town of Seward, home to the Alaska Sea Life Center, an aquarium and rescue/rehabilitation facility for injured marine wildlife. I mainly worked as as research fellow in the Eider Lab, working on an ongoing research project studying the food source of wild Spectacled and Stellar's Eiders. I identified marine invertebrates found in benthic ocean samples from research sites, organized data sheets, and compiled a photo guide of organisms I found for use by the next research fellow.

In addition to lab work, I also worked as an interpreter at the touch tank exhibit (containing sea stars, hermit crabs, sea urchins, sea cucumbers-my favorite, and others). In addition to maintaining the safety of the animals in the touch tank, I also engaged with guests, teaching them about the inverts, as well as the marine birds and mammals on display (NOT part of the touch tank haha). Overall, this was another formative experience for me, as I fell in love with the quiet nature of the town of Seward as well as the Sea Life Center and its mission itself. I also learned that I also have a love for the "bugs of the sea," and although I am not much of a mariner, I like the idea of learning more about the ocean invertebrates, at least to the extent I could teach people about how cool they are. Along with trying to convince people to touch them (safely of course).

Dr. Brian Aukema Forest Entomology Lab: Lab Research Technician (May 2019-August 2019)

The summer after my experience in Alaska, I got to finally do some work assisting in a lab in a university setting, and get some experience working on the types of projects I might encounter in my own grad school pursuit. In the Forest Entomology Lab of Dr. Brian Aukema, I gained experience with a variety of field projects, mainly related to invasive insects. Although the main skill I learned actually had to do with trees!

While working with a PhD student on a project on treating green ash trees (Fraxinus Pennsylvania) for Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), I got to id and rate the crowns of ash trees for EAB damage, measure their DPH, and prepare them for treatment. I also helped with other projects, like removing larch case bearer (Coleophora laricella) from twigs for use in research, assembling and checking funnel traps for velvet longhorn beetles (Trichoferus camoestris), and checking lab data sheets. Overall, this was a cool experience that allowed me to try a variety of different types of projects, and to work in a tight knit lab.

Graduate Research: Dr. Chelse Prather Insect Ecology Lab (Fall 2019-August 2021)

Teaching Assistant: University of Dayton Biology Department (Fall 2019-August 2021)

While I was working on my Master's research, I taught Introductory Biology Labs in the UD Bio Department. I was in charge of two sections per semester, giving students a brief lecture at the start of each lab, instructing them in the activities for each lab and keeping them on task, and grading their work. I had never taught before so this was a very new experience for me, and I definitely learned a lot about the topics I taught, the process of teaching, and my own interests and skills. While I don't think I will remain in an academic/educational setting, I am more confident in my ability to convey topics and to help others learn!

I probably have the most to say about this experience, since it is the most recent, and the longest I have spent on one specific project. Everything I have done up until this point has been fairly temporary. In Fall 2019, I started as a Master's student in the lab of Dr. Chelse Prather. In addition to teaching intro Bio labs as a TA, I began work on my thesis research, entitled "Can the one true bug be the one true answer? The influence of prairie restoration on Hemiptera composition."

My first year in the lab was mostly spent with learning to identify and begin sorting the multitude of hemipteran specimens that our lab had sampled in summer 2019. Hemiptera, aka True Bugs, include leafhoppers, cicadas, aphids, stink bugs, plant bugs, and many more- they are abundant and important in prairie ecosystems! My goal was to compare 3 different prairie types: remnant (native, undisturbed), old constructed (restored >20 yrs ago), and new constructed (restored <20 yrs ago) and see how the hemipteran community progresses over the years of a restoration. Would older constructed prairies begin to resemble remnants more than the newer constructed prairies? The answer turned out to be a bit complex, like ecology tends to do in these situations.

While I found no significant difference in hemipteran abundance or the number of families/morphospecies between the three prairie types, I did find that in mid-late summer hemipteran diversity increased somewhat and community composition between new constructed prairies and old constructed/remnant prairies began to diverge. I also found a couple morphospecies (Lygus lineolaris-Tarnished plant bug and Craspedolepta sp.-jumping plant lice) that decreased in abundance in old constructed prairies. One morphospecies, Micrutalis calva-honeylocust treehopper increased in abundance in prairies that were further from agriculture and the family Membracidae (treehoppers) was an indicator of remnant prairies.

Overall, I concluded that not only are hemipterans a promising insect group to use in prairie restoration research and evaluation, they might show us that prairie restorations located in a matrix of agriculture may be limited in their potential, and prairie restorations many need more long term maintenance overall. This was a pretty short summary, so if you are curious to learn more, feel free to email me!

Part Time Faculty: University of Dayton Biology Department (Fall 2021)

I'm staying at UD for now, teaching one section of the same Introductory Bio Labs I did before, along with helping teach one section of our new Ecology Lab. I am having a great time working with the new Eco Professor at UD (Dr. Kristen de Graauw) develop a new Ecology lab that inspires students to love ecology!