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Professional HistoryMy ornithological roots can be traced back to the Field Museum of Natural History's Bird Division in Chicago. These experiences included learning to prepare specimens from Ben Marks, internships on avian parasite screening and phylogeography with Jason Weckstein, screening for haemosporidian parasites with Heather Skeen, and endless discussion of avian speciation and taxonomy with John Bates. I took on these various roles on and off between 2012 and 2018. At The University of Rochester, I worked with Christian Rabeling studying the relation between polygyny and the evolution of social parasitism in fungus-gardening ants. I also learned coding in Rochester, winding up with a minor in Computer Science and a few languages under my belt. This all brought me to the University of New Mexico with dreams of studying speciation of island birds (see how that's going in in Research). I continue doing my best to contribute to natural history museums (even delving into plants) and am committed to improving academia via training undergrads in museum techniques and fighting for a more inclusive graduate community as a steward in UNM's newly formed union.
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Personal History & HobbiesI wouldn't be where I am now without my family's support for the various obsessions of my childhood, which eventually converged on birds. This led to a passion for birding, and helped me wind up as a museum ornithologist. I was particularly intrigued by gulls in the genus Larus and their propensity to hybridized, which led to my current fascination with interspecific gene flow and its important in speciation. As my eBird profile and Mob Rule map suggest, I love getting out to new areas (read: counties) and seeing what I can find. Similarly, I love getting outside to hike and camp, especially in the beautiful New Mexico mountains.
There are a couple bits of my life that don't involve birds. I like cooking (often guided by YouTube recipe videos), watching damselflies and dragonflies (in mid-summer when birding gets boring), and playing games (board, table-top, and video). Common influences I have on spaces I frequent include random rocks I find, small-medium whiteboards, assorted books, and items useful only in rare edge cases. |