I began my undergraduate studies at Raritan Valley Community College at the age of sixteen with an AS in biology, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Theta Kappa, and All USA Academic Team Coca-Cola Bronze Scholar. I continued my undergraduate education at Rutgers University with a BS in ecology and natural resources and certificate in Environmental Geomatics. As a G.H. Cook Honors Scholar, I designed a honors thesis on the behavioral ecology of black flies. I also participated in the GISCorps Niassa National Reserve Project, benefitting wildlife conservation in Mozambique, Africa. I graduated from Rutgers University in 2011, summa cum laude and the J. Applegate Awardee for Outstanding Student in Wildlife Conversation.In 2012, I was awarded the Fulbright-University of Glasgow Postgraduate Award to pursue a MSc. by research in ecology. I spent over a year living in Glasgow, Scotland involved with the international exchange of scholarship and culture. My fieldwork was conducted at the Timburi Cocha Scientific Research Station in San José de Payamino, Ecuador assessing the applicability of discriminant models to sex mature blue- crowned manakins by biometric measurements. Additionally, I aided the Payamino Project, a long-term biodiversity survey by conducting rapid avian biodiversity surveys, mist-net collection of understory species, and extensive biometric collection during the banding process. I completed my MSc in 2014 and and my PhD in 202. Currently, I am a research associate working with Dr. David Haukos at the Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Kansas State University.