Division of Science and Research

Taught Biometrics (NTRS 321) for the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Course focused on the application of statistical methods, models, and principles to design, analyze, and interpret biological studies. Major topics included normal distribution, binomial distribution, sampling distribution, data presentation, hypothesis testing, experimental design principles, analysis of variance, and linear regression.

Research focuses on impacts of sea level rise on habitat availability for migratory birds. Classified barrier island habitat types from WorldView-2 satellite imagery of St. George Island, Florida. Collected highly precise elevation data (centimeter-level accuracy) for St. George Island using a Real-Time Kinetic (RTK) system. Created sea level rise models for St. George Island. Captured Nearctic-Neotropical song bird migrants to determine importance of island as a stopover site.

Instructor for the NOAA’s Environmental Cooperative Science Center’s interdisciplinary marine science and policy course. Designed lectures, field activities, and lab assignments for the Ecosystem Characterization portion of the course. Trained ECSC students how to store, process, and create spatial data sets using mapping software, and how to create spatial simulations of landscape-level change scenarios. Developed syllabus, pre- and post-assessment exam, and course evaluation Instructor for the NOAA’s Environmental Cooperative Science Center’s multi-institutional field training campaign in the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) and the Mission-Aransas NERR. Taught ECSC students geospatial skills and field techniques including vegetation identification, marsh ecology, GPS/RTK usage, barrier island habitats, and water quality assessment. Field survey course provided necessary data to geospatially classify wetland and upland habitats from Digital Globe’s multispectral WorldView-2 satellite imagery.

Taught laboratory and recitation sections for various introductory and upper level undergraduate classes. Introductory classes included Cells, Genetics, Evolution, Organismal Diversity, Nutrition, Physiology, and Ecology. Upper level courses included Population Ecology, Herpetology and Ichthyology, and Animal Behavior.

Led an interdisciplinary field research team of high school, college, and graduate students studying the population ecology of diamondback terrapins. Planned and organized daily research related activities for approximately 200 national and international Earthwatch volunteers.

Developed country profiles for the wider Caribbean region that reviewed literature concerning fisheries, especially the bycatch of marine mammals, sea turtles, and sea birds. Developed regional assessments on the Southern Ocean and the Northeast Atlantic.