I am originally from Staten Island, New York, and received my BS in Natural Resources from Cornell University in 2007. I have been interested in nature and the outdoors for as long as I can remember, and have been fortunate to carry that into my career. My main research focus is on the conservation of amphibians and reptiles, with an emphasis on impacts of anthropogenic landscape alterations on these organisms. Additionally, I try to tie the impacts of landscape changes to resources that people rely on, when applicable.
I began my graduate work at Texas A&M in 2007, and completed my Masters thesis on a project involving a translocation of the St. Croix ground lizard (Ameiva polops), an endangered species that is endemic to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. I am currently beginning my doctoral work, focusing on how anthropogenic landscape alterations may be impacting amphibians through indirect hydrologic alterations. Because one of the foci of this work will be water resources, I am interested to tie this problem back to human water supplies, and work collaboratively with social scientists on the drivers and impacts of these changes.
Although my graduate work keeps me behind a computer for long spans of time, I still make sure to enjoy my first interest, and I enjoy the outdoors when I can.
