About Me
My past has provided exposure to many different fields and occupations, blue, green and white collar. As I look for my next opportunity, I am determined to find work that aligns with my values and ethics ingrained since childhood. Those values center around natural resource conservation and management. I grew up with a deep appreciation for nature and its incredible biodiversity where I hope to apply my data analytic skills for its preservation and security.
Continue on to see my undergraduate projects:
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About Me
Fall 1996 | UMass-Amherst
Assisted graduate student James Berube on his MS thesis regarding juvenile male woodcock mating display behavior.
Summer 1997
Interned at the University of Missouri-Columbia under the direction of Dr. John Faaborg as an ornithologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation on their Missouri Ozarks Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP), an experiment examining how various silvicultural practices impact all aspects of biome ecology. For MOFEP, I perfomed spot mapping, nest location/monitoring and legbanding mist net captures in different state forests. An independent study was required, and I monitored bluebird boxes on roughly a 20 mile span through rural southeast Missouri for the MO Department of Conservation, legbanding juveniles before they fledged and documenting predation and other factors of mortality.
About Me
1994-1998 | UMass-Amherst
As part of undergrad work study, I worked in a neuroscience lab headed by Dr. Nancy Forger and got practical experience as a lab technician making stains, autoclaving, assisting in surgeries and digitized cell tracing. This led to Dr. Forger deciding to coauthor me on her research publication.
Senior year, I was co-recipient with another senior for the Department of Forestry and Wildlife’s Outstanding Senior Award representing scholarly excellence and involvement.
After graduating UMass, I assisted herpetologist Dr. Christopher Jenkins on his research of threatened marbled salamanders, constructing study sites around vernal pools in western and central Massachusetts. My role included installing, monitoring funnel and pitfall traps and documenting captures.
While I was wrapping up with Chris at the end of fall, I was seriously injured in a car accident and could not walk well for 18 months. When this happened, I had to abruptly leave Chris’ project and Dr. Forger’s lab. I spent my rehab time studying for GIS certification at Penn State’s World Campus.
About Me
2000 IT Career
After completing my GIS cert, I was hoping to work for the MA DEP on a project to ready Ft. Devens for civilian use, now Devens, MA, mapping underground bunkers of hazardous waste required per the Clean Water Act. While I was waiting for job funding to be approved through state appropriations, I took a temporary two week position with a corrections management company. During that time, the person managing data systems and reporting quit. I applied for the vacancy and was granted the position where I began a 17 year journey between 2 different company acquisitions, until the final company (GEO Group) moved and consolidated all IT operations to Florida and Arizona.
2004 Volunteerism
However, while I was at CiviGenics (the first of the companies) I met Mark Blazis. At the time, he was a middle school science teacher and operated a bird banding station at a local sportsman’s club. I would volunteer and work weekends and school field trips for him. After a year, Mark invited me to go to amazonian Ecuador to band birds with him and his students. It was truly an unforgettable experience. Mark authored many articles for MA Fish and Wildlife publications and spent his end years as the conservation columnist for the local newspaper (Worcester Telegram).
About Me
Continuing Education
While I was at the second corrections company, Community Education Centers, I earned my MS in Computer Information Systems at Boston University, focusing on database management and business intelligence. More recently, I updated my skillset by graduating from General Assembly’s Data Analytics Immersive program, a 12 week curricula totaling 420 hours encompassing MS Excel, PowerBI, SQL, Tableau and Python. My capstone project can be found on this site. That is where I stand today, looking for the right position where I can have a positive impact and renew my passion and devotion for all things of our natural world.
