I joined the Mathewson Lab in Fall 2020 as an undergraduate, beginning with a Henslow’s Sparrow research project in Paris, Tx. My role soon expanded to include vegetation measurements, bird surveys, arthropod sampling, and camera data management across multiple projects. In 2021, I led an undergraduate project initiated by Molly Koeck examining the effects of bison grazing on arthropod and vegetation communities at Caprock Canyons State Park, continuing through 2022. From 2021–2024, I worked as a field technician on the Turkey Peak Mitigation Project, conducting vegetation surveys and avian point counts. I also assisted with Northern Bobwhite monitoring, telemetry, translocation, and trapping on private ranches (2021–2022). In Summer 2024, I joined the House Sparrow Project, gaining experience collecting blood, fecal, and oral samples from nestlings and participating in translocation egg swaps.

Beyond research, I was active in the Tarleton State University Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society, serving as Risk Management Officer, Vice President, and President. During this time, I participated in numerous East Foundation deer captures, turkey captures, quail captures at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation, TPWD dove banding, trash clean-ups, spotlight surveys, and youth outreach events. I presented both oral and poster presentations at The Wildlife Society and Texas Chapter of TWS, a poster at Texas Society for Range Management, and competed on the Tarleton Plant Identification Team. Through my master’s and PhD programs, I have remained active in the chapter, serving as a mentor and graduate student advisor to support undergraduate members. In addition, I teach youth, college students, and adults on how to use telemetry and a net-canon in wildlife management. Since 2023 I have been point of contact for a first timer duck hunt hosted by Delta Waterfowl for college students at Tarleton State University, where we teach about hunting safety, waterfowl ID, and what to do with game after taking it.

I began my graduate research in Fall 2024 while completing my undergraduate degree, focusing on the risks erosion control products pose to protected species and other wildlife through a funded TxDOT grant. My thesis centered on arachnid conservation, particularly tarantulas and vinegaroons and the threats they face from erosion control blankets, and included development of a Texas range map for the giant vinegaroon using citizen science records and historical data. I also contributed to a Texas Comptroller grant evaluating the distribution and conservation status of the variable cuckoo bumblebee and American bumblebee in Texas using novel environmental DNA monitoring techniques.

I completed my master’s degree in August 2025 and immediately began my PhD in the Mathewson Lab. For my dissertation, I am taking a non-traditional, multi-focused approach. My projects include: (1) using community science to evaluate Greater Roadrunner distribution across urbanization gradients and assess potential resource use in developed landscapes, (2) modeling vegetation distribution maps for bees using data from the Variable Cuckoo Bumblebee Project, and (3) furthering the practices of telemetry on fossorial species. Alongside these primary directions, I continue research on the risks erosion control products pose to wildlife and further investigations into vinegaroon ecology and conservation in Texas.