About Me
I grew up in New Mexico, moving around the Middle Rio Grande Valley until my family settled around Albuquerque when I was a young teen. I have always had an interest in the great outdoors and animals, and even passed around a "Petition to Save the Rainforests" when I was in fourth grade. Unfortunately, I didn't quite have the understanding of how petitions worked at the time, nor did I have the attention span to figure out what to do next after I thought I had enough signatures.
In high school, I drifted away from my interest in such things, even as I maintained a passion for observing and asking questions. I was planning to major in English until one of my teachers, Ms. Carole Cole, offered a second course of biology in my junior year. I'm the first to admit that I signed up largely because she put up fliers that this course would have FIELD TRIPS, and I wanted to get out of other classes. However, I'm also the first to admit that I admire how she managed to get us out and on multiple field trips a quarter without ever taking us out of another class. I also pin the beginning of my love for biology on her and her courses. By the end, I was hooked and looking for biology programs, and she was helping me figure out how to do an independent study in AP Biology in my senior year.
After high school and Ms. Cole's push in a whole new direction, I went to New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (aka New Mexico Tech; NMT) in Socorro, New Mexico, to study biology. I studied a great deal of microbiology and molecular biology and dreamed of getting out of the lab and having field experience. I finally managed it the fall semester of my senior year, when I went on a study abroad to Kenya, East Africa, through The School for Field Studies. While I had intended to go to graduate school before this trip, going to Kenya and experiencing Tsavo West National Park very much solidified exactly what I wanted to do. When I returned, I graduated from NMT with a B.Sc. in Biology with Environmental Science Option in 2003.
In August 2004, I began a M.Sc. program at American University (AU), and conducted my thesis research at Smithsonian Institution National Zoological Park (NZP). At AU and NZP, I worked on a project looking at the reproductive biology of domestic cat oocytes as a model system for endangered felids. I graduated with my M.Sc. in August 2007 and started looking toward PhD programs.
In December 2007, I moved to Chicago to pursue my goal of entering a PhD program in this area. By February of 2008, I was an unofficial member of Joel Brown's lab at UIC, and, in August of that year, I was officially admitted to UIC as a graduate student. I am finishing up my first year here at UIC and am very excited to continue my research, and follow up on my interests from my study abroad in 2002.
To this end, I am currently working with Joel Brown here at UIC and Dr. Bruce Patterson at The Field Museum. Not only am I getting the chance to learn more about those things that intrigued me while previously in Kenya, I learn more and more each day about different things that catch my interest. I can't wait to keep moving forward and see where I end up.