As Research Ecologist for the MWFB, I work closely with Museum and Department staff on programmatic issues, mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students, development of publications, and delivery of guest lectures, education and outreach programs, and ongoing research projects, particularly those on Putah Creek, our local watershed. In 2000, I founded the Putah Creek Nestbox Highway, a combined conservation, research, and environmental education project that has provided significant benefits to cavity-nesting songbirds and hands-on field training opportunities for university students. As an ecologist, my interests are broad, spanning the disciplines of landscape, community, population, behavioral, and restoration ecology. I work in both tropical and temperate ecosystems and am particularly interested in how abiotic processes structure biotic communities and how biota adapt to novel ecosystems. I hold a PhD in Ecology with a  habitat restoration emphasis from UC Davis and a BA in General Biology from UC Santa Cruz.