I am a PhD Student in the Middleton Lab and Brashares Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. My current work seeks to understand the ecological outcomes of a recovering puma population in southern Argentina to inform ongoing 'rewildling' projects throughout Patagonia and promote human-wildlife coexistence. My research integrates behavioral and community ecology with socio-political human dimensions to help solve today's pressing wildlife conservation problems. Central to my work is ensuring that conservation outcomes are equitable, and that all stakeholders have access to and say in the decisions that affect their communities.
Prior to starting my PhD, I worked in Mexico as a Natural Resource Conservation Volunteer with the Peace Corps. Primarily, I worked with SEMARNAT, the local municipal government, and local farmers’ co-ops to conserve working landscapes by developing and teaching better landscape management practices, monitoring wildlife populations, promoting ancient water-retention practices using agave, planting windbreaks to prevent erosion, and reforesting the communal land that’s seen lots of forest fires and illegal logging.
While not on campus or conducting field work in Monte León National Park, you can find me birding, cooking, and camping my way through the Bay Area .