Howdy! I'm a student of zoology, environmental studies, ecology, conservation biology, and a few other -ologies. That in no way means I don't make mistakes here on iNat (which I do often). I'm part of iNat's Mammal Working Group and the Vascular Plant Working Group. I am also one of the taxon curators for mollusks (with @jonathan142) and mammals (with @jwidness and @sea-kangaroo). Over the summer of 2019, I served as iNaturalist's first intern through Yale University.

I graduated from Ursinus College in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. My capstone course was mammalogy and I carried out field research on white-footed mice. In 2021, I was a field technician with Southwest Conservation Corps, collecting ecological data via the Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) program in northwestern New Mexico. In 2022, I served a similar role with The Great Basin Institute in Nevada and Southern California for a narrower, species-specific AIM project.

Currently, I conduct Access Point Angler Intercept Surveys as an employee of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Concurrently, I am pursuing a Master's Degree in Ecology and Environmental Studies at Central Connecticut State University with an anticipated graduation year of 2025.

It is a little difficult to see all of the Flags affecting the species I curate. If there is a problem with any mammal or mollusc taxa, I encourage you to tag me (as @bobby23) or message me directly. It makes it a lot more likely that I will see the problem. I promise to listen and I assure you I don't bite.

What I do on iNaturalist

This is as much a reference for you as it is a to-do list for me…

Taxonomic stuff

• Curating various taxa. While I generally have helped manage a wide variety of species, I am most involved with vertebrates, arthropods, and mollusks.
• You can view my taxon changes here. When not adhering to our taxonomic authorities, I tend to be a taxonomic lumper.
• Managing a list of insect authorities that you can view and contribute to here.
• Managing mollusks on iNat with @loarie and @jonathan142.

Other stuff

• Writing a mammal guide for Connecticut. This is currently a low-priority project.
• Managing several projects, including Megafauna of the World, iNaturalist Spider Working Group (SWG), and iNaturalist Cephalopod Working Group (CWG). Otherwise, I am affiliated with Mammal Working Group (MWG) and Vascular Plant Working Group (VPWG).
• Hunting for English vernacular names for obscure taxa in the depths of the internet. I consider this a curatorial duty. The implementation of common names helps casual users understand more about the natural world and share what they learned with others. Know that I never intentionally makeup names. If you see a name I added that you are unfamiliar with or feel it was misapplied, please message me!
• Finding names for species in other languages iNaturalist supports, such as Chinese, German, Japanese, etc. I feel like the app might be more popular in other nations if our taxa showed up in search results. Regardless of language or background, seeing a species listed solely by its scientific name can be a little intimidating for casual users.
• Participating in discussions with other users on the iNatForum.

Toolbox

• Curator Guide to creating and editing iNaturalist taxon ranges by @jwidness
• DIVA-GIS
• EncicloVida by CONABIO
• iNaturalist Sources Page
• Index of Red Lists / Similar Documents
• Map of Life
• QGIS Documentation
• Web Soil Survey
• Years in Review: 2017, 2018, 2019.

Other whereabouts

I have several accounts throughout the internet and most of them are intentionally not interconnected. Sorry about that. Please private message me on iNaturalist if you want to communicate with me via email, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, or for any other inquiries. Otherwise, you can follow me on Twitter here or view my pitiful Flickr account here (which I primarily maintain for iNat purposes anyways, so it's not very fun to look at. But this may change in the future...).

Favorite Taxa

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