I
am a student in the Nicholas School of the Environment and
Earth Sciences at Duke University. Currently I am pursuing
a Masters Degree of Environmental Management with a focus
on ecology and conservation on a landscape scale, using
a GIS-based approach. This summer in Madagascar, in addition
to assisting Luke Dollar, I will be conducting a study of
lemur populations in small forest fragments at Ankarafantsika
National Park.
My interest in lemurs began when I started volunteering
at the Duke University Primate Center in 1997. With a focus
on primate behavior and ecology, I majored in Anthropology
at Grinnell College. During my junior year I went to Madagascar
for a semester abroad with the School for International
Training. I had the opportunity to extend my stay and work
with WWF in southern Madagascar. After college I spent 2
years in Puerto Rico for a job studying the rhesus macaques
on Cayo Santiago. In 2002 I returned to Madagascar as a
research assistant on a project studying the diademed sifakas
in the eastern rainforests. My experiences in Madagascar
led me to expand beyond primatology and work in environmental
conservation. At Ankarafantsika, my goal is to develop a
research project that ties together my environmental studies
at Duke with my interest in primatology and Madagascar.
