In junction with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Becker Lab at Montana State University, I am researching habitat selection in 8 pronghorn herds across Montana in winter. Understanding winter habitat requirements is an emerging research area (see DOI 3362 order: Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big-Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors). Using data from ca. 700 pronghorn collared for 1-3 winters, I am using habitat selection analyses to pair gps-collar movement data with spatially explicit layers in time such as snow properties, fencing, nutritional qualities to test hypotheses on what is important to pronghorn at varying scales, across a diaspora of different winter experiences from plains to mountains in Montana. I aim to complete my thesis by Fall 2026.

Snow depth and snow properties in grassland & shrub landscapes are often unpredictable. Pronghorn are hypothesized to make facultative or large irruptive movements mid-winter to avoid severe snow and can be disrupted by linear features such as fencing. While previous research has demonstrated associations between pronghorn facultative movements and snow, our goal is to mechanistically understand this phenomenon from a habitat selection-movement modeling framework using simulations. In junction with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Becker Lab at Montana State University, we are examining how facultative movements form in pronghorn. We are asking: How do simulated pronghorn movements compare to empirical movements when snow properties or fencing are removed?

In classes such as Landscape Ecology, I have built skills to model landscape connectivity and validation through behavioral simulations using resistance surfaces from habitat selection analyses, and behavior-agnostic models such as randomized shortest paths. For example, in the above image, I simulated connectivity between 3 areas with varying degrees of theta (a parameter which describes randomness) and functional response to the resistance surface.

In 2024 I took part of the MOLRA team, as a member of the Yale BGC , in the XPRIZE biodiversity monitoring competition. Our team was awarded second place ($2 million), for developing novel methods to monitor biodiversity with drone based platforms, remote sensing, human-in-the-loop species identification, E-DNA, acoustic monitoring, and AI models. I specifically worked on developing field based methods, drone platforms, and tools to collect audio, visual and E-DNA samples.

In the Uatumã Preserve, north of Manaus, Brazil, as a member of the Yale BGC, I worked with a small team to collect samples to test novel biodiversity monitoring methods. Based out of a remote field station we travelled by boat and performed long field days that started and ended in the dark. Research and analysis is in development.

Working with USFWS, I assisted in nesting and breeding monitoring of the ESA-listed Steller’s Eider and Spectacled Eider. As part of a team, we surveyed and captured eiders on foot and ATV, while based out of Utqiagvik, AK. Work supported recovery efforts for the species.

In 2022, while working for the NW Wyoming Bighorn Sheep Project and the Monteith Shop , I assisted with fieldwork related to bighorn sheep behavior and nutrition. Specifically, I captured lambs to outfit with GPS-collars and collected plant samples to estimate nutrition across the study area. Over intensive backpacking trips in the Wind River Range, WY we worked in small teams to support the project. I also assisted with other ungulate research on moose and mule deer in NW Wyoming.

As a senior at Western Colorado University, I developed research with partners at the Bureau of Land Management, Gunnison Field Office on the effects of beetle kill on mammals within the Powderhorn Wilderness south of Gunnison, CO. I combined remote fieldwork using over snow travel with presence-absence surveys for evidence of pine squirrels, and vegetation indices from Landsat.

In 2020 and 2021, I assisted Hawkwatch International on fieldwork related to research on Golden Eagle nestling toxicology, movement, and diet. I installed cameras within nests, captured nestling to instrument with gps loggers/obtained blood samples, and classified images from cameras for diet analyses.

In development of function to create viewsheds that account for DTM and DSM height when calculating line of sight between a target and observer on the ground. Use the function and view the code here.

Lately, I have been creating 3D maps to visualize geographical spaces. Using Google Earth Engine elevation data, a QGIS Plug in DEMto3d, and 3D resin printers at the Makerspace (Montana State University), I have created small prints for fun. If you are interested in finding out more, or requesting one – reach out!

Currently, I maintain a 250+ person job board list serve that sends daily emails based on custom keywords found in new Texas A and M Job Board posts. Natural resource jobs are competitive and applying and searching for jobs is not conducive to those who have less time to monitor the website daily. Instead, I hope this tool can improve accessibility to job applying.

The script is hosted on pythonanywhere. Click to sign up! and remove yourself here.

Code is available here.