Photo taken at the Joint Meeting of 11th North American Crane Workshop and 34th Annual Meeting of The Waterbird Society in Grand Island, Nebraska. Seen here are Sandhill Cranes at a stopover site. Photo Credit: Dr. Patricia Szczys

I received my B.Sc. in Biology from Eastern Connecticut State University (2007-2011) where I wrote an Honours Thesis on the population structure and genetic variability of waterbirds, specifically European Black Terns (Chlidonias niger niger), with Dr. Patricia Szczys. My results showed that although we have seen declines in European Black Terns population numbers, genetic variability has remained high. I also determined there to be moderate levels of genetic differentiation between European populations, which coincides with the banding records of European ornithologists. We had a paper published in the Journal of Ornithology in 2017 resulting from this research. Check it out at this link.