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.

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