I am fascinated by individual variation, human-wildlife interactions, social behavior, comparative cognition, and animal personality.
I received my B.S. in Evolutionary Anthropology (with a Minor in French & Francophone Studies) at the University of Michigan. Go Blue! As a research assistant with Think Elephants International in Thailand, I studied cognition of Asian elephants and developed conservation curricula. I earned my Ph.D. at the University of Wyoming in the Animal Behavior & Cognition Lab. My NSF GRFP dissertation work focused on personality and cognition in zebra finches and Asian elephants. Through my Postdoctoral Fellowship in Animal Behavior at the Oklahoma City Zoo, I contributed to our understanding of animal welfare, human-animal interactions, basic science, and conservation. I leveraged animal behavior as a tool for improving conservation breeding of the Hawaiian Crow (ʻalalā), which is extinct in the wild, and the 'akikiki, which is critically endangered, as a Post Doctoral Associate in Recovery Ecology with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in Hawaii. |