I am a PhD candidate in Conservation Sciences at the University of Minnesota interested in the intersection between wildlife diseases and behavior in both wildlife and humans

 

My dissertation is a multifaceted examination of chronic wasting disease (CWD). I am exploring the feasibility of deploying environmental detection of CWD prions at deer scrapes through modelling contamination of over 3,000 scrape samples collected from 11 states across the Eastern United States. Additionally, I am exploring the dynamics around how these sites become contaminated using camera trap data over 150 scrapes. The second half of my dissertation focuses on two aspects of the human dimensions of CWD 1) newspaper coverage of CWD over time and 2) multi-jurisdictional deer management within the Twin Cities metropolitan area. 

 

My work has been featured in various newspaper articles, Quality Whitetails, and in two podcasts. See the Outreach page for more details about these and other outreach products I’ve created. After I defend my dissertation in 2027, I hope to continue working in wildlife disease research and outreach. 

 

In my free time, I enjoy gardening, spending time with my two cats and dog, and reading.