College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Major Advisor:

Tyler Buchinger

Background:

I graduated from Ohio Northern University with a B.S. in Environmental and Field Biology in 2023. During undergrad, I participated in a variety of research projects from conducting bioassessments of fish communities in the Ohio River to studying methods for cryopreserving blue catfish sperm.

After graduation, I worked at the Black Lake Streamside Rearing Facility. In this position I assisted with various field surveys for lake sturgeon and cared for juvenile sturgeon in the hatchery. Most recently, I worked at USGS Lake Erie Biological Station where I assisted with fish acoustic telemetry research. Now I am very excited to pursue my master's degree at MSU!

My graduate research will investigate olfactory imprinting in cisco (Coregonus artedi). I will be conducting behavioral experiments on hatchery reared cisco at USGS Hammond Bay Biological Station to determine if cisco demonstrate preference for their natal water. I will also be conducting experiments to determine the role of conspecific cues (pheromones) in cisco reproduction.