I am a teacher, mentor, researcher, administrator, friend, sister, wife, and mother. I am currently fulfilling those roles while working as the Director of the Trout Lake Research Station in Boulder Junction, WI for UW - Madison.
I believe that nature-led inquiry and training are essential for building new research and understanding. Working at a field station to facilitate these types of interactions is a large part of my new role!
My own research focuses on how invertebrate organisms with unique life histories evolve in response to natural and anthropogenic sources of variation in their environments. Currently, I am studying how lunar light variation impacts zooplankton migratory behaviors in a clear water northwoods, WI lake.
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EDUCATION
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Phylogenomics of Cypridinidae (Ostracoda): Evolutionary origins of bioluminescence and complex behavioral displays
1994 - 1998
Lawrence University
B.A. with honors in Biology
Monitoring and Assessment of Legacy Lead Contamination in the La Crosse River Marsh
Understanding ecosystem change in upper Mississippi River backwaters through geochemical and biological analyses of sediment cores
1999 - 2001
University of Illinois
M.S. Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
2001 - 2008
Cornell University
Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
