My CV.
Photo by Brian Stauffer
Photo by Brian Stauffer
Photo by Brian Stauffer
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RESEARCH POSITIONS
Postdoctoral Science Writer University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - 08/2022 to current Writer for the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. In charge of researching, writing, and editing IGB research pop-science articles, researcher highlights, funding awards, outreach, and announcements. Also involved in creating and testing outreach activities and materials for science communication. Graduate Student University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - 08/2017 to 06/2022 I completed my dissertation in Mark Hauber's lab at UIUC. My graduate work focused on the sensory ecology of Yellow Warblers referential alarm calls (seet calls), that denote Brown-headed Cowbirds, obligate brood parasites. Using playback experiments, I explored the contexts in which Yellow Warblers produce these vocalizations, their lasting effects into the next day, effects of experience on seet production, and responses of eavesdropping Red-winged Blackbirds to playbacks. Lab manager/Research Assistant University of Maryland College Park - 09/2014 to 08/2017 I conducted auditory perceptual research aimed at understanding how animals communicate with one another using sound and whether there are parallels with how humans communicate with one another using speech and language. Using operant conditioning on a go-no-go paradigm, we examined how birds perceive complex sounds such as natural and synthetic bird vocalizations from different species, and if changing properties of the vocalization, such as frequency, amplitude, pitch, order and tempo, changes the perception of them. Songbirds, such as canaries, rely on hearing and learning to develop a normal vocal repertoire and interact in social contexts with conspecifics. My species of study were canaries, budgerigars, and zebra finches. EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - June 2022 B.A in Biology St. Mary's College of Maryland - May 2014 B.A. in Psychology St. Mary's College of Maryland - May 2014 CERTIFICATES
Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning Graduate Teacher Certificate University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - May 2022 ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Animal Behavior Society Conference - 08/2023 Red‐winged blackbirds nesting nearer to yellow warbler and conspecific nests experience less brood parasitism Animal Behavior Society Conference - 07/2022 Lack of anti-parasitic referential alarm calls in a Galapagos Yellow Warbler population allopatric from obligate brood parasite American Ornithological Society Conference - 06/2022 Lack of anti-parasitic referential alarm calls in a Galapagos Yellow Warbler population allopatric from obligate brood parasites Zumbro Valley Audubon Society - 10/2021 Specialized defenses by two avian wetland species against brood parasitism Animal Behavior Society Conference - 08/2021 Allee Competition: Cooperative heterospecific eavesdropping on an anti-parasitic referential alarm call Millikin University Beta Beta Beta Society - 03/2021 Specialized defenses by two avian wetland species against brood parasitism Champaign County Audubon Society - 02/2021 Eavesdropping on Heterospecific Functional Reference Calls as a Frontline Defense Against Brood Parasitism Graduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium - 02/2021 Eavesdropping on Heterospecific Functional Reference Calls as a Frontline Defense Against Brood Parasitism North American Ornithological Conference - 07/2020 The influence of pairing status on Yellow Warbler responses to simulated threats to the nest Animal Behavior Society Conference - 06/2019 Eavesdropping on Heterospecific Functional Reference Calls as a Frontline Defense Against Brood Parasitism Animal Behavior Conference - 03/2019 Eavesdropping on Heterospecific Functional Reference Calls as a Frontline Defense Against Brood Parasitism Guest Lecturer for IB461: Ornithology - 03/2019 Vocalizations Graduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium - 02/2019 Perceptual Basis of Functional Referencing in Yellow Warblers Acoustical Society of America Conference - 06/2017 Relative salience of syllable order versus syllable fine structure in zebra finch song POSTER/WRITTEN PRESENTATIONS
Animal Behavior Society - 08/2023 Red-winged blackbirds nesting nearer to yellow warbler and conspecific nests experience less brood parasitism Animal Behavior Society Twitter Conference - 07/2021 Antiparasitic referential alarm call elicits mental time travel in the host of a brood parasite Sensorium - 10/2019 Do hosts of avian brood parasites discriminate parasitic vs. predatory threats? A review International Society of Behavioral Ecology - 08/2018 Persistence of Host Responses to Avian Brood Parasites in Allopatry International Symposium on Acoustic Communication by Animals - 07/2017 Perception of Structural Changes in Song Motifs by Zebra Finches North American Ornithological Conference - 08/2016 Using Operant Conditioning Methods to Measure Song Perception in Birds GRANTS FUNDED - $732,912 in total
Izaak Walton Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship (50k CAD) - August 2023 Dissertation Completion Grant- June 2021 NSF Behavioral Systems Grant - April 2020 GAANN Fellowship - Spring 2020 SIB Conference Travel Award - Fall 2019 National Geographic Early Explorer Grant - August 2019 Tinker Foundation Research Fellowship - April 2019 Edward Banks School of Integrative Biology Graduate Award - April 2019 Illinois Ornithological Society Grant - March 2018 UIUC Spring Dissertation Travel Award - February 2018 Lebus School of Integrative Biology Graduate Award - February 2018 Clark School of Integrative Biology Graduate Award - February 2018 American Ornithological Society Research Award - January 2018 RESEARCH/PRESENTATION AWARDS
Honorable Mention Student Presentation Award - American Ornithological Society Conference 2022 Warder Clyde Allee Award for best student paper / presentation - Animal Behavior Society Conference 2021 2nd place prize - GEEB Symposium 2019 TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching assistant - Intro to Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Merit (IB150 AL3) - University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021 Teaching assistant - Physiology (IB202) - University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - Spring 2018 Teaching assistant - Intro to Organismal and Evolutionary Biology (IB150 AL1) - University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - Fall 2017, Fall 2018 TEACHING AWARDS
Thomas Frazzetta Award for Excellence in Teaching – Spring 2022 UIUC's Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students – Fall and Spring 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020 JOURNALS REVIEWED FOR Philosophical Transactions (2) Journal of Field Ornithology (2) Biology Letters (1) Ecology and Evolution (1) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (1) Avocetta (1) Ornithology (1) Behaviour (1) OUTREACH/ACTIVITIES
IGB Postdoctoral Association Communications Coordinator Birds, Bats, Bees "Strolls in Science" co-organizer Adventures in Microbes comic storyboard artist Pollen Power summer camp organizer/volunteer Parkland College Science Club guest speaker Build a Bird event at Garden Hills Academy Elementary volunteer South Side Elementary Science Night volunteer Homer Lake Volunteer for Bird Banding Demonstrations- Great Backyard Bird Count, Migration Fest, Backyard Birds of Fall Allerton Park Banding Demonstration ACES-STEM Research Apprenticeship Program volunteer ACES Family Academies Program volunteer Owl Banding Nights at Kennekuk County Park Millikin University guest speaker Champaign Audubon Society guest speaker Life of Birds with experts screening Skype a Scientist volunteer Teaching Evolution Workshop volunteer Monticello Middle School Science Café volunteer Science at the Market volunteer Yankee Ridge Jr. Scientist Day volunteer Extracurricular Events Chair Subatomic Pigeon Improv Club President |