Stephanie M. Schmidt Email & Phone Number

Madison, Wi, Us

Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States

• Produce key messages, engage partners, coordinate volunteers, develop relevant media content, and deliver programs for audiences critical to mitigating major threats to cranes.• Drove the creation of a strategic plan for managing and evaluating outreach efforts using conservation standards.• Developed protocol and justification for a multiyear study of solar energy impacts on crane habitat use. Trained staff and partners on data collection and reporting protocol. • Perform rigorous fieldwork to collect data, track cranes via radiotelemetry, and capture, handle, band, release, and transport cranes.• Locate nests, collect data, handle and float eggs, and transport eggs to captive rearing facilities. • Contribute to scientific analyses, camera trap review, and manuscript writing and review.• Mentor fellow and graduate student research projects exploring cranes and energy threats and conservation management decisions. Provide guidance on protocol development, data collection, analysis, and writing.• Follow detailed protocols to collect and prepare biological samples (blood, feathers). • Contribute to restoration activities including brush removal, invasive species management, and prescribed burns. • Hire, train, and supervise 3 fellows, 1 intern, and 2 limited term employees seasonally.• Acquire grant funding to support outreach work across the eastern flyway and manage expenses, contracts, and invoices.

Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area

• Lead nest survival research of sensitive marsh bird species to better inform wetland management practices.• Permitted for research with state-threatened and endangered species. Permitted under federal bird banding permit #23923.• Performed scientific analyses, camera trap review, and manuscript writing and review.• Developed SOPs for data collection at nests and bird handling and banding.• Follow detailed protocols to collect and prepare biological samples (feces).

Champaign County, Illinois, United States

• Developed a research study, data management plans, and analysis protocols in R to mentor one undergraduate student in their first research study.• Attended workshops geared towards developing a mentoring philosophy and mentoring relationship.

New Orleans

• Provided daily husbandry, monitored the captive flock, and kept detailed records for Whooping Cranes, Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, and various stork species.• Practiced cleanliness as it relates to animal contact and biosecurity and collected biological samples (blood, feces). • Safely captured, restrained, and banded cranes and assisted in their release.

Wisconsin Historical Museum, Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Baraboo, Wi

• Provided daily husbandry, monitored the captive crane flock, and kept detailed records.• Practiced cleanliness as it relates to animal contact and biosecurity and collected biological samples (feces). • Developed safe bird handling and restraint skills.• Conducted an independent research project to determine optimal egg weight loss for hatching success of artificially incubated Whooping Crane eggs.

University Of Wisconsin-Madison Department Of Forest And Wildlife Ecology

• Analyzed Spotted Owl acoustic data to link territorial vocalizations with habitat composition and use.• Organized acoustic and habitat data on Microsoft Excel, trained to use R/R Studio for analysis.• Published research as the second author in 1 peer-reviewed article.

Univeristy Of Wisconsin-Madison Department Of Integrative Biology

• Conducted independent research and extracted, amplified, and sequenced DNA of unidentified specimens to reveal a novel Tithaeus species and a novel Miopsalis species.• Performed delicate microdissections and imagery of specimens using scanning electron microscopy.• Published research as the first author in 2 peer-reviewed articles.

Univeristy Of Wisconsin-Madison

Lake Mills, Wi

• Managed wetland, prairie, savannah, and forest habitat through physical and chemical control of invasive species.• Collected and dispersed native seed and cross-pollinated endangered orchids.• Operated pole saws and backpack sprayers for herbicide application and tree and brush removal.• Skillfully identified native birds, reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and arthropods and kept daily detailed records of species found in the restoration.

Dairy Forage Research Center, Madison, Wi

• Collected digestive tissue and extracted RNA of cattle with high efficiency and low efficiency rumen content.• Sequenced RNA of the rumen microbiome to locate bacteria species present in the gut after forage inoculation.• Follow detailed protocols to collect and prepare biological samples (blood, tissue, feces).

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Rehydrated museum specimens (Membracidae) and analyzed wing venation and morphology to edit a preliminary dichotomous key. Relabeled and pinned specimens.• Audited genetic sequences of Tingidae for contamination and created consensus sequences.

University Of Wisconsin-Madison

• Provided daily husbandry for cats, dogs, and exotics and kept detailed records to report back to veterinary staff. • Prepared and distributed meals for boarding patients. • Practiced high levels of biosecurity when cleaning and resetting the surgery rooms, critical care unit kennels, and cancer patient kennels.

University Of Wisconsin-Madison

Master'S Degree, Natural Resources And Environmental Sciences, 4.0/4.0

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Zoology/Animal Biology, 3.698/4.000