Personal Information

• B.S. (Biological Sciences), 2006, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 

Research Interests

I am interested in invasive species, community structure, and the ecological implications of fluctuating environments. I am also interested in encouraging public involvement in conservation and research. Currently, I am studying the invasive herbivorous pest hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae; HWA) and it's effect on eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forests in New England, and I am using a novel approach in an attempt to find eastern hemlocks that are potentially resistant to HWA. As part of my research, I will cooperate with governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the public in search of the potentially resistant hemlock trees.

Prior to joining the Preisser lab, I was a research assistant in Dr. Stefan Schnitzer's community ecology lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  I was involved in several research projects including: (1) decomposition rates of native and invasive woody species in south-eastern Wisconsin forests (2) liana abundance in a moist tropical forest at La Selva Biological Field Station in Costa Rica, and (3) long-term liana-tree interactions in a seasonal moist tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute