I am a doctoral student and an IGERT fellow in the Geography Department at the University at Buffalo.  I received a Bachelor’s of Science in Ecology from Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.  While there, I won the regional Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society competition for student research with my project, “The Effects of Dispersal Ability on the Speciation and Subspeciation of North American Mammals.”  

I then obtained my teaching certification from Penn State University and taught a variety of high school and middle school science courses in the Juniata County School District.  Additionally, I ran the district’s Gifted and Talented program which afforded me the opportunity to work on individual and group projects with my students.

I am returning to academia with hopes of challenging myself and stretching my limits as I once again journey into the realm of scientific research.  My focus, at this point, is in the area of biogeography, specifically modeling and predictive biogeography using GIS.  Currently, I am narrowing my options to begin a thesis that will hopefully involve invasive species as a mechanism for biogeographic models. 

In my spare time I enjoy playing tennis, Pittsburgh Steelers football, minor league baseball, investigating new microbrews, reading, hunting for antiques and exploring my new environment.