I am a recent graduate with a Master of Science in Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics from the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, Germany. I also hold a certificate in Environmental Studies from the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at LMU. I am passionate about endangered species conservation and habitat restoration. I also love foraging and expanding my knowledge of the natural world. For my thesis, I utilized a chronosequence approach to conduct vegetation surveys in forest gaps created by a unique silvicultural technique implemented by the Foundation for Sustainable Forests and analyzed the dynamics of key habitat resources for both early-successional and mature-forest birds in Western Pennsylvania. For my final project for my Environmental Studies certificate, I wrote and self-published a cookbook of local edible mushroom species with the aim of inspiring members of the public to engage meaningfully with their environment in a more direct way, thereby promoting the conservation of healthy, intact forest ecosystems. My cookbook is titled "The Amateur Forager's Cookbook: Featuring Edible Wild Mushrooms of Western Pennsylvania." In addition to my M.Sc., I also hold a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences with a Chemistry minor from the University of Pittsburgh and graduated with high honors (summa cum laude).