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PEOPLE

Advisors

Academic Advisors

PhD: David Lahti, Queens College, CUNY

 

David is an evolutionary biologist and philosopher interested in a broad range of subjects from behavioral ecology and cultural evolution to ethnobotany and human morals. His prospectus on the causes and consequences of relaxed selection in nature is what initially sparked my interest in joining his lab, and indeed it inspired my current research projects. David has been a great mentor and friend, and I credit him with many things, chiefly among them refining my analytical skills and broadening my understanding of evolution.

Master's: Richard Howard, Purdue University (retired)

 

Rick is an evolutionary biologist focusing mainly on sexual selection with other interests including applied biology and development. I joined his lab somewhat unsure of my own research interests, but after taking his Sex and Evolution course, and through our discussions of project ideas and theory, I found my research path. I credit Rick with the construction of my professionalacademic and scientific foundations.

Undergraduate: Bethia King, Northern Illinois University

 

Bethia is an evolutionary biologist having spent most of her career investigating the changes to and manipulation of sex ratios in parasitoid wasps. Her Behavioral Ecology class is what initially piqued my interest in academia, and prompted me to join her lab. Her enthusiasm and clarity in the classroom and the lab, as well as our discussions of the literature and theory are what inspired me to pursue a career as a scientist.

Collaborators, Assistants, and Friends

Mongoose Research:

In St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands:

Buzz Hoagland, Westfield State University

 

Buzz is a geneticist and population biologist who has been studying small Indian mongooses since the 1970's. Visit his mongoose website to see great videos and to view the data he's collected. Buzz graciously invited me to join him during his annual summer field season in St. Croix. I aided Buzz in some of the several fascinating projects he is undertaking, and he helped me catch dozens of mongooses. Buzz was also instrumental in the behavioral study I conducted on St. Croix.

Michael Evans, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

 

Mike is the manager of Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. He oversees and aids all the research done within the refuge, some of which includes sea turtle conservation, archaeological digs, and mongoose trapping. Mike helped facilitate the trapping Buzz, Anna (below), and I did, and was very helpful to me in the permitting and customs process.

Richard Gideon, The Nature Conservancy

 

Richard is the chief caretaker of the beaches owned by The Nature Conservancy on the east end of St. Croix, prime nesting location for several endangered sea turtle species. Mongooses dig up and eat sea turtle eggs, and Richard tries to remove the pests during sea turtle nesting. Richard helped us trap mongooses on these beaches, which in turn, helped keep their population down.

Anna McPherran, Queens College, CUNY

 

Anna is a recent graduate of the Lahti Lab interested in conservation ecology. I was fortunate enough to have her join me in St. Croix as an assistant. She helped with all aspects of the project including trapping, handling, anesthesia, and measurements.

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Click here for Anna's CV.

In Jamaica:

Ralph Robinson, University of West Indies, Mona Campus

 

Ralph is a parasitologist at UWI Mona that was gracious enough to let me use his lab and tools while I was trapping mongooses near UWI Mona. In addition to my work, I collected the GI tracks of nearly 50 mongooses for Ralph for a study on invasive species parasites. He also helped me to the hospital when a mongoose bit my finger, breaking off my fingernail!

Byron Wilson, University of West Indies, Mona Campus

 

Byron is a conservation biologist at UWI Mona, and has studied mongooses in this capacity, most notably for their near-eradication of the Jamaican iguana. He was a tremendous help in locating trap sites, and the general facilitation of my stay in Kingston.

Camilo Trench, Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory

 

Camilo is a scientific officer at DBML. He facilitated and oversaw my stay there, and drove me to several sites looking for mongooses. Without his or Denise's (below) help, I would not have been able to collect any data from northern Jamaica.

Denise Henry, Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory

 

Denise is an environmental biologist studying seagrass and coral restoration and sea urchin biology. Like Camilo, Denise helped shuttle me back and forth between trapping sites and DBML.

In India:

Yadvendradev V. Jhala, Wildlife Institute of India

 

Y. V. Jhala is a wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist. He was my Fulbright Fellowship supervisor that helped facilitate my research in several ways including the acquisition of wildlife 

permits and the instruction of mongoose handling and anesthesia and radio telemetry. We are currently writing a manuscript detailing our findings.

Harish Guleria, WWF India

 

Harish is the head of the Terai Arc Landscape Program. He was crucial to my data collection in cities outside my immediate home by coordinating assistants, affordable housing, and meetings with local forest officials.

Narender Rawat

 

Narender lives in the village Chandrabani, a place where I lived for 10 months. He was my main field assistant and aided in all aspects of my work there: trap creation, location of trap sites, trap theft prevention, anesthesia, handling, and radio telemetry. He also acted as my interpreter.

Sabuj Bhattacharyya, Indian Institute of Science

 

Sabuj holds a postdoctoral position at the Centre for Ecological Science at IIE. During my time in India, I parasitized Sabuj's kind disposition convincing him to help me with both research and every-day issues. Without his help, my time in India would have been much less enjoyable. We have remained good friends, even across the ocean.

In Hawaii:

William Pitt, USDA-APHIS

 

Will is the USDA-APHIS field station leader in Hilo. Will facilitated my first ever field season and arranged for me to aid Kelton (below) in his work of mongoose trapping.

Kelton Kotake, USDA-APHIS

 

Kelton is a field specialist for the USDA-APHIS field station in Hilo. Part of his job is to trap and remove mongooses from areas on the Big Island. I helped Kelton for two weeks, trapping and removing mongooses from the Keaukaha Military Reservation in Hilo.

Zebrafish Research:

Jessica Mahoney, North Dakota State University

 

As an undergraduate in the Howard Lab at Purdue, Jess helped collect lots of data for me. Together, we also designed her honors thesis project whose results we have turned into a manuscript and submitted. She is currently a PhD candidate at NDSU studying the behavioral and physiological responses to perceived risks in red-winged blackbirds.

Karl Rohrer, Purdue University

 

Similar to Jess, Karl collected large amounts of data for my project. After I graduated, he also helped Rick in several other zebrafish projects leading to his authorship on several papers.

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