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Biography

Biography

My introduction to ecology and conservation came as a study abroad experience in Queensland's rainforests, after which I found that plans for medical school paled in comparison to an environmentally-oriented career. I earned a Masters in Public Health degree in Environmental Health at the University of California-Berkeley and consulted for a non-profit environmental organization for three years. I interned at a field study school in Kenya for a year, then traveled around the world before settling down to earn my Ph.D. at Cornell University. While there, I became interested in biological invasions as a conservation issue, particularly invasions by easily overlooked creatures. Upon completing my Ph.D., I went to Mauritius on an NSF fellowship to research ant invasions in a restoration context. An ARC-Discovery grant on biological invasions and conservation in an urban context brought me to Western Australia in 2005.

I started at JCU in 2013, first as a DECRA recipient researching ecological effects of bee disease. I have since contributed to various projects that apply ecological theory to addressing real-world challenges.

Current Research Projects (see also Current Funding tab)

  • Scientific support and research for the Yellow Crazy Ant Eradication Program run by the Wet Tropics Management Authority (monitoring effects on non-target species, permit compliance, improving and testing detection methods, general scientific advice)
  • Developing environmental DNA (eDNA) for the detection of invasive ants
  • Environmental Impact Categorization for Alien Taxa
  • Environmental stressors on native bees
  • Effects of drought on herbivory

Post-graduate and Honours inquiries

I currently supervise 3 PhD candidates, a Masters student, and an Honours student. See the Supervision tab for further details.

If you are interested in applying to be part of my lab as an MPhil or PhD student, please visit the Graduate Research School website to familiarize yourself with entry requirements and applications and scholarship deadlines. Please email me with a statement of your research interests, your CV, and your motivation for pursuing a degree.

If you are interested in studying for an Honours, Masters, or PhD degree with me, I specialize in the following areas:

  • effects of biological invasions, particularly insects
  • plant-insect interactions, especially as they affect conservation or agriculture
  • ant ecology
  • ecological effects of bee stressors

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