I have been active with the Explorers Club Washington Group (ECWG) since nominated in TEC in 2010. Currently, I am the ECWG Assistant Treasurer.

My scientific and exploration background is in ornithological research. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala, I banded birds in the lowlands near Honduras and the Peten, and implemented the first hawk monitoring program in Guatemala. These efforts provided wildlife managers and researchers with previously unknown information on the migratory patterns of ospreys and broadwing hawks in the region. I went on to train Guatemalan biologists and students to identify and count in-flight raptors for the country’s first official raptor census. In my current capacity, I have mapped tundra swan distribution on the eastern shore of Maryland in cooperation with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources and Cornell University, and contributed to a study of the historical distribution of trumpeter swans in North America on behalf of the Trumpeter Swan Association. I am an active volunteer at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, where I assist rangers with the refuge’s wildlife management responsibilities; I rehabilitate wildlife following oil spills on behalf of Tri-State Bird Rescue; and am a member of the Delaware Shorebird monitoring team. I have been honored by the Nature Conservancy for research on the interior least tern, and the Tulsa Audubon Society for organizing and managing a state-wide fundraiser toward environmental education for elementary and middle-school students.

As an agricultural economist in USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, I forecast international crop production levels and the global trade of agricultural commodities. I have led agricultural assessment efforts around the world, including multiple field research trips to Haiti, China, and India. I have an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University, and a research and academic background in ecology, wildlife biology, and ornithology. I am also a fellow in the Royal Geographic Society. And I was nominated to American Birding Association, Board of Directors where I serve as Financial Chair in 2016.