Through research, biological field stations, and science policy, I work to better understand and conserve our planet’s biodiversity and natural environments
I am an evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist interested in the drivers, consequences, and evolution of animal societies. I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter with Dr. Lauren Brent. As part of the ERC funded FriendOrigins project, I study multilevel selection for, and the genetic architecture of, individual and group social behaviors in a long-studied free-living population of rhesus macaques.
I received my Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UCLA in 2023. Studying in the Blumstein Lab, my dissertation was on the evolution of individual and group social behaviors with a multilevel selection perspective. I conducted this work in a wild population of yellow-bellied marmots studied since 1962 at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). I am also a Scientist and Instructor at RMBL, continuing my research on the evolution of marmot sociality and teaching Rocky Mountain Wildlife, an undergraduate field course. I serve on the Board of Directors for the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS), various committees at RMBL, and am an Assistant Editor-in-Chief at the Journal of Science Policy and Governance. |