I conducted jet boat, kayak and wading Chinook salmon carcass surveys on the Lower American River on a team of 10 scientists as part of a long-term monitoring project to quantify the state-wide salmon population. This included chopping carcasses in half with a machete, collecting genetic samples, and identifying the sex and spawn status of the fish.

I developed and carried out an independent project studying ectoparasite competition on house finches and hairy woodpeckers in the United States as part of a larger project designed with three fellow undergraduates to understand the relationship between avian ectoparasites and urbanization using UCLA’s Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammals. I also worked as an undergraduate research assistant, assisting PhD candidate Graham Montgomery with an insect populations meta-analysis project, transferring data from scientific papers to a database.

I trained newly hired stacks maintenance workers, worked at the front desk making library cards, research referrals and helping patrons search for books, and maintained the Charles E. Young Research Library's stacks of more than 3 million books by shelving materials and repairing book labels.

I cared for reptiles, invertebrates and amphibians in the Zoo's Reptile and Amphibian Discovery room and Bug House. Along with learning how to feed and enrich the animals, I conducted a six-week observational research project on the Zoo’s Black Tree Monitors.

I volunteered at the Workshop’s weekend open houses, where I handled the reptiles and small mammals and taught students about the animals’ biology and behavior.