Who I Am
Extracurricular: Planet Women’s Regenerative Leadership Rising Scholar
Academics: Masters Major: Graduate Degree Program of Ecology
Previous: B.S. from Cornell University, 2017
A Bit About Me
I was born in Washington D.C. and lived in the area up until 2014 when I moved to Ithaca, NY to complete my B.S. at Cornell University. While at Cornell, I was on the pre-vet track and firmly believed that being a veterinarian was my dream career up until I stumbled into the world of animal behavior and conservation during my senior year. Upon this experience, I decided that I wished to pursue the field of wildlife conservation instead and began a position with a research group at the university called the Elephant Listening Project (ELP) who I have been working and collaborating with for the last six years. With ELP, I have been largely focused on using sound recordings from the rainforests of Central Africa to learn more about forest elephant behavior and conservation needs and to provide this information to conservation practitioners in the region to inform conservation strategies for the species. When not working, I enjoy hiking with my dog, Oscar, and stepping out into nature with my camera as an avid wildlife and natural landscape photographer.
What I Hope To Do
While my focus at CSU has largely been on scientific analysis and conservation, I am eager to integrate a greater human dimension aspect into my conservation work. After graduating, I hope to use my skillsets in acoustic monitoring and other realms such as working with camera traps and statistics to train members of local communities in Central Africa so they can use these methods to monitor wildlife in the areas surrounding their homes. Many of these communities were displaced from the rainforest when protected areas were created, highlighting the unethical practices that have sometimes gone along with conservation. It is my hope to work with the NGOs managing these protected areas to increase the access these communities have to their rightful lands and share the skills and knowledge I have on conservation with them so they may manage their own natural resources for their own subsistence and protection of their natural heritage.
My Personal Thanks
I am deeply grateful to the donor who has provided funding to me through the Africa Center Graduate Student Research Scholarship. The funds provided will allow me to continue my work in forest elephant conservation as I use sound recordings from the rainforest to understand the impacts that illegal gun hunting is having on a population of forest elephants in the northern Republic of Congo. The financial support of this project will be critical in allowing me to obtain my research goals and ultimately my degree, and I am very thankful for this support. I know it will not only benefit my current work but will lay a foundation on which I will work to achieve my goals in practicing conservation more equitably and ethically and supporting the rights and conservation goals of the communities who I will partner with in Central Africa in the future.