My Ph.D. dissertation research investigates the causes and consequences of variation in spatial memory in North American red squirrels as part of the Kluane Red Squirrel Project. My current research aims are to:

1. Develop novel methods to measure spatial memory in wild squirrels.

2. Investigate the relationship between spatial memory, behavior (e.g., food caching, movement, and parental and reproductive behaviors), and fitness in wild squirrels.  

3. Investigate the development of spatial memory across the lifespan in wild squirrels.  

My undergraduate honors thesis investigated the role of lead pollution in urban gray squirrel and chipmunk behavior in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN (under the mentorship of Dr. Emilie Snell-Rood).

• Behavioral ecology

• Cognitive ecology

• Causes of variation in cognition in wild populations

• Costs of "good" cognitive abilities in wild populations

• The development of cognition across the lifespan

• Behavioral plasticity

• Parental behavior