About Me

In August 2019, I began my position as a Research Ecologist and Director of the Hubbard Brook Field Ornithology Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and maintain my status as a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. My training includes a Ph.D. from Cornell University in behavioral ecology, an interdisciplinary M.S. from Michigan State University in ecology, evolutionary biology and behavior, and a B.S. from Iowa State University in zoology. I conducted postdoctoral research at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and Smithsonian Center for Conservation Genomics where I expanded my expertise in modern molecular approaches for understanding animal behavior and ecology. 

​Prior to my doctoral training, I taught field courses as a Faculty Instructor of Conservation Biology in New Zealand for International Student Volunteers and worked as an Avian Ecologist on the California Channel Islands for The Institute for Wildlife Studies in island bird conservation.