EEB BS/MS graduates

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Revision as of 16:47, 25 October 2012 by Christopher Elphick (Talk | contribs) (Kathryn Levasseur: Field co-director for the Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project)

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This page provides information on the positions that students from the BS/MS program have taken after finishing their degrees. The list in not exhaustive and some people may have moved on to other things, but it is designed to give current and prospective students a taste of where they could end up.

Dan Britton: Photovoltaic Systems Designer, Sunlight Solar Energy

My current job title is Photovoltaic Systems Designer at Sunlight Solar Energy (http://www.sunlightsolar.com). In a nutshell, I visit potential sites for solar electricity and determine if the site is viable for solar, and if so, design a system that meets the energy needs and physical constraints of the building. I also spend a lot of time educating people, explaining how grid-tied solar system work, the various government incentives, and outlining the economics of solar.

Chris Field: Important Bird Areas Coordinator, Audubon Connecticut

My first full-time job after graduation was coordinating research for an epidemiology lab at Yale. Subsequently, I worked as Audubon Connecticut's Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program Coordinator. My main responsibility was coordinating state-wide and site-based conservation planning for Connecticut's IBAs. For more information see: http://ct.audubon.org/IBAs.html. In 2011, I returned to graduate school for a PhD. [Updated fall 2012.]

Brad Goupil: Pursuing Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota

I am currently in my third year in the College of Veterinary Medicine. My main area of interest is in Infectious Diseases. While in school, I have helped develop and performed a study on Salmonella in a captive population of reptiles, which we hope to publish soon. During my final year of Veterinary School I will be doing several externships in the areas of pathology and laboratory animal medicine. My goal is to combine my background in Conservation Biology with veterinary medicine to work in emerging infectious diseases. [Updated spring 2009.]

Erin King: Biological Science Technician, USFWS

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Since graduating from the BS/MS program in 2004, I have worked for several organizations including UCONN, the CT Department of Environmental Protection, and the US Department of Agriculture. My job responsibilities have ranged from writing a conservation plan for one of Audubon Connecticut’s Important Bird Areas, to radiotracking American Woodcock, to testing birds for Avian Influenza and West Nile Virus. I currently work as a wildlife biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife in Rhode Island. My job involves overseeing the threatened and endangered species program at the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex focusing on the piping plover, New England cottontail, saltmarsh sparrow, and rare plants. I also assists the refuge biologist and invasive plant biologist on habitat restoration projects and adaptive shrub management project. For more information on USFWS please see our website: http://www.fws.gov/. [Updated fall 2012.]


Kathryn Levasseur: Field co-director for the Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project

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The Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project seeks to better understand the life history of the hawksbill, a critically endangered sea turtle, in order to serve as a foundation for wise management and policy making. The project is a collaboration between WIDECAST (The Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, a partner organization to the United Nations Caribbean Environment Programme) and the Jumby Bay Island Company (an association of homeowners on Long Island, Antigua).

The importance of a research project such as the JBHP lies with its intensive monitoring and documentation of nesting activity through saturation tagging. Hourly beach patrols are done every night for six months (June-November) to ensure every nesting hawksbill is identified and documented. This rigorous data collection has continued since the project's inception in 1987. As an endangered species with a long generation time, hawksbills require long-term, consistent data to understand their population dynamics. Two decades of monitoring on Jumby Bay have now begun to shown a clear increase in the population (Richardson et al. 2006). The project also promotes public awareness of sea turtles regionally and internationally through local school visits and educational turtle watches for local residents, tourists, and members of the environmental division in Antigua. As field co-director, I am in charge of community outreach in addition to hourly beach patrols and data collection: tagging, measuring, photographing, egg counts, carapace mapping, nest excavations, etc. [Updated fall 2010.]

Richardson, J. I., D. B. Hall, P. A. Mason, K. M. Andrews, R. Bjorkland, Y. Cai & R. Bell (2006) Eighteen years of saturation tagging data reveal a significant increase in nesting hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) on Long Island, Antigua. Animal Conservation 9: 302-307.

Tanner Steeves: Research Associate, Yale University

I am currently a research associate at Yale University in the Vector Ecology Lab investigating the role of birds, small mammals, and ticks in the natural cycling of human pathogens. After graduating from the BS/MS program I spent time working for the CT DEEP-Wildlife Division where I participated in a variety of projects related to research, monitoring, and habitat management. In addition to my current position, I continue to collaborate with the CT DEEP, UConn, and other non-profit organizations on conservation issues in Connecticut. [Updated fall 2012.]