Hometown?

• I moved to San Diego from Roseville, California when I was 14.

Where did you study for your undergraduate degree?

• UCLA

What project were you working on immediately before joining the Lewison Lab?

• I was working on the SDZWA Native Biodiversity Corps program (which I am still involved with, just in a part-time capacity now).

What experience led you to pursue your current career path?

• In late 2023, F-307, a female mountain lion whose territory overlapped with the Safari Park, was depredating chickens at a farm near the Park when she was lethally removed by the landowner. She left behind three 6-week-old cubs. F-307 was tenacious, brave, sometimes unpredictable, and absolutely stunning. She inspired me to try to make sense of feline depredation patterns in order to promote greater human-carnivore coexistence.

What are you most excited about in joining the Lewison Lab and the SDSU Ecology Program?

• I look forward to learning from Dr.’s Lewison and Jennings. I really admire and respect them and I am grateful that I get to embark on this wild journey with them by my side.

What is your favorite study species you have worked with?

• Humans. I believe community, culture, and education should be at the core of conservation.

Favorite place you have lived/visited?

• The Yucatan peninsula. I visit often (in fact, I will be there in about 18 hours from now). In 2023, however, I had the opportunity to join SDZWA staff on a trip to Xcaret, a Zoo and eco-archaeological park in the Riviera Maya, to host a week-long training for animal care staff. I learned a lot and made lots of great friends. I hope to move there one day to explore carnivore ecology and human-carnivore interactions in the region.

Who is your science hero?

• Does Sir David Attenborough count? I like to think he and I would be friends if we knew each other. He notices and celebrates the magical little details of life, and I think I do too. I imagine hanging out with him would be mildly entertaining at least and transformatively enlightening at best.

What is your dream job?

• I would like to be a scientist on the Applied Conservation Social Science team at the SDZWA. Specifically, I would like to support the SDZWA’s conservation research projects in Latin America.

​Random fun fact that we don't know about you!

• I rescued a crested gecko from Bakersfield, and he was totally fine in the car ride down to San Diego (6-hour drive) but then I put him in the car again when I moved apartments (4-minute drive) and he dropped his tail en route. :( He’s fine, just looks kind of weird now. His name is Louis, but I call him Glue.

Hometown?

• Morris Plains, New Jersey

Where did you study for your undergraduate degree?

• Rutgers University

What project were you working on immediately before joining the Lewison Lab?

• Before joining the Lewison Lab, I was a behavioral husbandry intern at the New York Aquarium where I worked with California sea lions and harbor seals.

What experience led you to pursue your current career path?

• Originally, I entered college wanting to pursue dentistry, but that quickly changed when I took a behavioral biology course my sophomore year. In that class, I learned about the relationship between horseshoe crabs and migratory shorebirds and my path changed entirely. My very first internship actually ended up focusing on the dynamics between these very species. 

What are you most excited about in joining the Lewison Lab and the SDSU Ecology Program?

• I’m excited to learn from my peers about a variety of species and ecosystems. I have been very lucky to have fieldwork experiences in different ecosystems, but I can’t wait to further my knowledge and skills alongside other ecologists.

What is your favorite study species you have worked with?

• While I have had the privilege of working with incredible animals from red bats to loggerhead sea turtles, I have to go with the red knot (migratory shorebird), since that is the species that started it all for me. 

Favorite place you have lived/visited?

• My favorite place that I have lived was South Carolina, but my favorite place that I have visited so far is Japan. 

Who is your science hero?

• This might sound cheesy, but my science heroes have truly been the passionate ecologists I have learned from in each of my technician jobs and internships. 

What is your dream job?

• Exactly this! I hope to continue to expand my skills, experiences, and knowledge and to make contributions to this field in whatever way possible.

Random fun fact that we don't know about you!

• I have dabbled in the circus arts—unicycle, juggling, trapeze (although trapeze needs some more work).

Troy Wynne

Hometown?
Issaquah, Washington
 
Where did you study for your undergraduate degree?
University of Washington
 
What project were you working on immediately before joining the Lewison Lab?
Before joining the lab, I was working as a fisheries observer in the Deep-Set Buoy Gear, Drift Gillnet, and Deep-Set Longline fisheries targeting swordfish and tuna in Southern California. 
 
What experience led you to pursue your current career path?
Growing up, I was consistently surrounded by fishing, rivers, Puget Sound, and salmon. My hometown even has an annual festival, Salmon Days, to celebrate the return of the local Chinook population. This appreciation for the ecological, economic, and social benefits fish provides people, paired with early career exposure to fisheries management and conservation research solidified my path in the field. 
 
What are you most excited about in joining the Lewison Lab and the SDSU Ecology Program?
I am excited to contribute alongside a bright group of individuals on applied science topics and develop quantitative fisheries and ecological modeling skills. 
 
What is your favorite study species you have worked with?
Steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss
 
Favorite place you have lived/visited?
Lived - Washington State. It’s hard to think of a better place to live than the Cascades. Visited - The Andes, but specifically Peru and Colombia. Experiencing Colombia’s unmatched tropical biodiversity and Peru’s high alpine on the Cordillera Huayhuash were spectacular experiences. 
 
Who is your science hero?
Billy Frank Jr was an incredibly influential environmental leader and treaty rights activist for both his Nisqually Indian Tribe and Pacific Northwest salmon. His legacy integrated social, cultural, and ecological values in salmon conservation and serves as a powerful inspiration for fisheries management. 
 
What is your dream job?
Research Fisheries Biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service or similar agency.
Random fun fact that we don't know about you!
I have poison dart frogs as pets. But they’re not poisonous in captivity.

Hometown?
New York, NY

Where did you study for your undergraduate degree?
Oberlin College, where I majored in biology.

What project were you working on immediately before joining the Lewison Lab?
I was working with whale sharks, characterizing their distribution in the western North Atlantic Ocean using species distribution modeling.

What experience led you to pursue your current career path?
It’s hard to settle on a single experience (because there were several!), so I’ll summarize what was the most recent and what I would describe as my first. The most recent would be my work investigating whale shark movement ecology, where I was a summer student fellow with Dr. Camrin Braun at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I had some experience in R but nothing nearly as quantitatively focused. That said, I really learned to appreciate (and now seek out) how we can harness something as small as a laptop and use it to help us address complex questions in a difficult to work in field—the open ocean. Pivoting, the first experience would be me winning a goldfish at a carnival when I was ~13 or so and got a tank to support it: slippery slope from there (pun intended).

What are you most excited about in joining the Lewison Lab and the SDSU Ecology Program?
To join a team that geeks out over the same topics as myself, join a supportive community, and learn about/contribute some awesome research along the way.

What is your favorite study species you have worked with?
Whale sharks.

Favorite place you have lived/visited?
Cairns, Australia

Who is your science hero?
Her deepness, Sylvia Earle

What is your dream job?
To continue what I’m doing!
​
Random fun fact that we don’t know about you!
Broke my collarbone rolling off my bed in my sleep.

We've all heard "I'm stuck in traffic" or "I lost my keys", as an excuse as why someone was late for work. But have you ever heard "an opossum climbed into my engine block and refused leave"? Well Elly, one of the Conservation Ecology Lab's newest postdocs, found herself in this exact situation. The opossum was leisurely hanging out under the car when Elly went to leave yesterday morning, it must have gotten spooked and crawled up into the engine block and refused to leave. No better excuse for an ecologist to be late to the office than wildlife stopping your commute before it could even start!

​Wildlife Landscape Ecology
We are seeking a highly qualified and experienced candidate to join our research team and lead research aimed at understanding the dynamic relationships among animal distribution, abundance and landscape structure, composition, configuration and connectivity. Applicants should have strong interest and background in applied ecology, conservation, and spatial analyses. Quantitative proficiency in occupancy, sightability, mark/recapture, connectivity and other relevant quantitative approaches is needed.
 
Seabird Population Dynamics
Southern California is home to some of the largest breeding colonies of seabirds and coastal/wetland shorebirds. In partnership with CDFW, IEMM provides quantitative expertise to support CDFW’s ongoing efforts to monitor and conserve these populations. Applicants should have strong interest and experience in using long-term seabird datasets, analyzing survey data, population analyses, and quantitative approaches to identify trends and relative impact of biotic and abiotic conditions on population dynamics.
 
Qualifications
A PhD is required as well as training or experience in ecology, applied conservation science, or related fields. Candidates must demonstrate scholarship, leadership and have at least 5 years of experience conducting ecological research. Experience in interdisciplinary and innovative, integrated research approaches is a plus. Candidates should be able to work both independently and in a collaborative setting with project team members, stakeholders, and partners at a variety of natural resource management organizations, and community organizations. We are excited to welcome candidates with excellent interpersonal skills, strong writing capacity, and a growing publication record. The researchers will be based at SDSU and will work under the direction of Drs. Megan Jennings and Rebecca Lewison. The positions may require travel within California. 

Appointment: Appointments will be for two years from start date, contingent upon performance. Starting salary is approximately $66,560 a year plus benefits (DOE). There are no requirements for citizenship.
 
To apply:
Application review will begin immediately.
- Wildlife Landscape Ecology: Follow this link to apply
- Seabird Population Dynamics: Follow this link to apply 

​Congratulations to Greta Schmidt and Nima Farchadi on graduating this past spring! Greta is moving to a Wildlife Biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. Nima will be taking a postdoc position at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Congratulations Greta and Nima!

Congratulations to Troy on being named one of 15 individuals selected as one of The Aquarium of the Pacific’s new Community, Equity, Learning, and Persistence (CELP) scholars! The CELP program is awarded to southern California students in marine science related fields in hopes students can find their own community within STEM and bring a greater variety of lived experience 

If you would like to know more about the CELP program and hear a few words from Troy herself, please visit the link: https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/news/story/aquarium_of_the_pacific_announces_recipients_of_its_new_celp_scholar_program

Troy and Nima tackled Marine Science Day! They performed outreach for Black in Marine Science (discussing the organizations goals and future events being held), played marine heat wave games with kids, and Nima presented his work on marine heat waves and fisheries. Well done both, such a fun day!

If you would like to learn more about Black in Marine Sciences (https://www.blackinmarinescience.org/) or Nima's work on marine heat waves (https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12828), please visit the links!