Welcome!

I joined the Center for Limnology (CFL) in January 2011, where I am excited to be a part of the Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) and Coupled Natural-Human Systems (CNHS) projects. My area of expertise is in conducting social-scientific surveys and modeling human behavior in the context of resource management.

While studying Biology at McGill University (BSc '97) with a focus on ecology and a keen interest in "environmental problems", I came to realize that very few of these problems have ecological origins. Rather, they are the result of human activity. When the time came for me to pursue graduate studies, it seemed only natural to gravitate towards the social sciences.

Having been an avid whitewater kayaker and wilderness canoe tripper since my teens, environmental management for tourism and outdoor recreation provided an immediate focus. Dr. Wolfgang Haider's innovative use of discrete choice experiments to model human behavior led to study at Simon Fraser University's School of Resource and Environmental Management. My master's thesis centered on the impact of forestry practices on canoeing experiences  in northern Ontario's boreal forests, but during that time, I also had the opportunity to contribute to several other research projects related to parks and recreation, conservation biology, international development, and non-market valuation.

My PhD research has led me into recreational fisheries, where I'm part of the ADAPTFISH research project, headed by Dr. Robert Arlinghaus. This project takes a Social Ecological Systems approach to understand recreational fisheries dynamics.

At the CFL, I'm currently modeling boater movement in the context of aquatic invasive species dispersal (CNHS), and developing protocols for longitudinal surveys of shoreline property owners and lake users in two lake districts in Wisconsin (LTER).