Grad Panel

Elizabeth Mast

Elizabeth Mast completed her B.S. in Environmental & Resource Science with a minor in Biology at Nevada State University. Currently, she attends the University of Nevada, Reno, working towards her M.S. in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. Elizabeth works as a researcher at the Castle Lake Environmental Research Station, the longest running mountain lake research program in the Americas.  Her research focuses on how climate variation impacts lake ecosystem biology. She continues to pursue her career in conservation biology while promoting community involvement and education for the stewardship of aquatic ecosystems.

Jaime Miller

Jamie is a first year PhD student at the UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science & Management where she is studying restoration ecology and wildlife population dynamics in the coastal dune ecosystem. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Systematic Biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and has worked as a wildlife biologist on the central coast for over 15 years. In 2020 she earned her Master’s in Environmental Science and Management at Bren, specializing in conservation planning and environmental data science. Her Master’s thesis involved updating habitat connectivity assessments for The Nature Conservancy and the Staying Connected Initiative in the Adirondack Mountains. She also serves on the board of the California Central Coast Chapter of The Wildlife Society as Treasurer.

She is passionate about wildlife conservation and started her career by tracking California condors at Hi Mountain Lookout and studying kangaroo rat ecology in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes and Carrizo Plains National Monument. Looking to expand her work abroad, she spent time in the tropics studying avian demography and breeding biology in the Amazon basin and Andean cloud forest in Peru, banding forest birds in Hawai’i, and studying mantled howler monkey foraging ecology in Costa Rica. For several years, she has worked for Point Blue Conservation Science at Vandenberg Space Force Base, studying snowy plover productivity and survivorship and coastal dune ecology.

When not climbing sand dunes looking for plover chicks on Vandenberg’s beaches, she enjoys native plant gardening, harboring native bees in her yard, baking goodies with locally-grown fruit, and photographing wild things.

Joey Curti

Joey Curti is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the UCLA Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Joey attended UCLA for his undergraduate and worked in the Santa Monica Mountains as a field biologist during a four year gap before starting graduate school. For his Ph.D. research, Joey is interested in applying whole-genome sequencing to California conservation management to answer pressing conservation questions across the state. Joey’s current research projects include 1) the impacts of long-term isolation and small population size on California red-legged frogs (Rana draytonii) in the Santa Monica Mountains, 2) the impacts of roads on the genetic health and population connectivity of California quail (Callipepla californica), and 3) population structure and signatures of local adaptation of the Yuma bat (Myotis yumanensis). He works closely with the National Park Service, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the California Conservation Genomics Project. Ultimately, Joey's time at UCLA has prepared him well for conservation research following graduation by helping increase his connections with resource managers across the state and improving his bioinformatic and field research skills.

Marissa Bills

Marissa Bills is a Master’s Student in the Biology Department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo working with Dr. Ben Ruttenberg. She studies Pismo clam population dynamics, spatial ecology and management on the Central California Coast. 

Sierra Lippert

Sierra Lippert graduated from the University of Washington in 2020 with a B.S in Biology. She is currently pursuing an M.A in Biology at Miami University, focusing on large carnivore coexistence and conflict mitigation. During her studies, she traveled to Namibia to learn about cheetah conservation with the Cheetah Conservation Fund. She has also volunteered for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance science department where she coauthored a paper about African leopard conservation management. Sierra currently works as a wildlife biologist for Dudek, an environmental consulting firm. In her free time she enjoys traveling, camping, reading, and going to the beach.