About

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Senner Lab at University of Massachusetts - Amherst where I'm working on a project to evaluate the demography and movement of roseate terns, an endangered seabird species. I am using multiple data types to develop an integrated metapopulation model that will bring together demographic and population survey data across multiple colonies to estimate colony- and metapopulation-level estimates of survival, productivity, population size, and movement rates, as well as the effects of environmental variation on these demographics. The results of this holistic modeling framework are expected to inform management decisions for this species, particularly related to wind energy development in the region, as well as provide insight into the effects of future environmental variation on population dynamics.

Prior to UMass, I completed a postdoc in the Weegman Lab at University of Saskatchewan where I focused on lesser snow goose metapopulation dynamics. I received my Ph.D. in the Zipkin Lab at Michigan State University under the supervision of Elise Zipkin. My dissertation work focused on understanding the demographic and environmental drivers that shape avian populations and communities. I completed my M.S. in Fish and Wildlife Conservation from Virginia Tech where I studied seabird behavior and demography. I am broadly interested in understanding population and community resilience - why do some populations persist through environmental changes while others decline? And how does individual-level flexibility across the annual cycle scale to population-level demographic outcomes? My research aims to address these questions using statistical frameworks that combine multiple data types from long-term monitoring programs, participatory science, and intensive field studies to understand how global change is expected to affect the distributions and demography of animal populations and communities.