Summary
My research focuses on the population and community ecology of freshwater fishes, often linking environmental stressors (e.g., large reservoirs, groundwater pumping, wildfire) to freshwater fish population and assemblage dynamics across a variety of aquatic ecosystems. This research bridges the gap between basic and applied fisheries ecology, integrating quantitative ecological analyses, spatial statistical methods, landscape ecology and conservation biology to address conservation and management issues. Recent projects have focused on evaluating spatial ecological processes as predictors of steelhead spawning distribution, vulnerability analysis of bull trout habitat and populations to wildfire and climate change, designing practical applications for spatial stream network models, and developing multi-state occupancy estimation methods for lotic systems.
Honors and Awards
- USGS Performance Award for exceeding performance standards (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
- Finalist, American Fisheries Society Best Student Paper Award 2008
- Eugene Maughan Graduate Student Scholarship, Western Division AFS 2008
- Colorado-Wyoming Chapter AFS Memorial Scholarship 2008
- Jay Hokenstrom Memorial Scholarship 2008
- John E. Skinner Memorial Fund Award, American Fisheries Society 2004
- Kansas State University Division of Biology Student Travel Award 2004
Education
B.S. 2000 University of Missouri (Fisheries and Wildlife)
M.S. 2004 Kansas State University (Biology)
Ph.D. 2009 Colorado State University (Fisheries Biology)