Jayci Grosso (she/her) is using camera trap data to evaluate the capabilities of unmarked abundance estimation techniques. Her study focuses on testing assumption violations of these models. Jayci is from Stuart, Florida and completed her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida.

Kyle Pfaffenberger (he/him) is studying the effects of virtual fencing on pollinators and wildlife habitats in Oklahoma and Colorado. He is co-advised by Dr. Courtney Duchardt and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Kyle's research interests include evaluating biodiversity in rangeland systems and integrating novel ways that both agencies and local communities can achieve conservation goals. Kyle is from Seymour, Indiana, and he earned his Bachelor's in Environmental Science with a concentration in Biology at Hanover College in Southern Indiana. For life after school, he aims for a career in land management with state, federal, or private agencies. When Kyle is procrastinating his scholarly responsibilities, he enjoys hiking, biking, swimming, watching classic movies, and reading fantasy and science fiction.

Molly Koeck (she/her) is a Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University studying mule deer survival and movement in western Oklahoma. Molly's dissertation work has led to the GPS collaring of the first ever mule deer in the state of Oklahoma. Data collected through the use of these GPS collars, as well as camera traps, will provide valuable insight on the population dynamics of mule deer in western Oklahoma. Molly is from Spring, TX and completed a B.S. in Wildlife, Sustainability, and Ecosystem Sciences at Tarleton State University and a M.S. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management from Oklahoma State University.

Katie Worden (she/her) is a masters student working with Dr. Sam Fuhlendorf and Dr. Laura Goodman on the Prairie Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. She is studying floral resource availability in rangelands that are managed with patch-burn grazing and mixed-species grazing. The foundation of her project is to observe heterogenous landscapes produced by disturbance variance, and how these landscape mosaics enhance biodiversity and provide refugia. Katie is from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and she completed a B.S. in Organismic Integrative Biology at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK. Her primary passion that drives her research is conservation ecology, and in her free time she enjoys gardening, hiking, and cooking.

Oscar Dalling (he/him) is a masters student in Dr. Andrea Litt's lab at Montana State University. He is studying grizzly bear density in Yellowstone National Park using camera traps and unmarked abundance estimators. Additionally, he seeks to understand factors that affect heterogeneous grizzly bear density in Yellowstone using spatial covariates. This project is a partnership with the National Park Service and US Geological Survey, and funded by Yellowstone Forever. Oscar grew up in Gardiner, Montana and graduated from Montana State University in 2023 with a B.S. in Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management. When not working, Oscar can be found skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and enjoying the great outdoors.

Danielle Brosend (she/her) is currently studying detection and occupancy of plains spotted skunks in southeastern Oklahoma. Her study focuses on noninvasive survey techniques and optimizing detection of plains spotted skunks in and around the Ouachita National Forest, OK with the aim for broader applications throughout their range. Danielle is from Rockford, IL and completed her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology & Management at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in 2021.

Holly Todaro (she/her) is the current Dr. Fritz L. Knopf Ph.D. Fellow in Avian Conservation at Oklahoma State University, co-advised by Dr. Courtney Duchardt and Dr. Scott Loss. Her project focuses broadly on grassland bird conservation, using both field components and existing datasets to answer novel research questions. Specifically, Holly is conducting a meta-analysis aimed at quantifying the effects of climate change on various reproductive parameters in bird populations worldwide. In separate aspects of her research, Holly is assessing the predictive ability of weather surveillance radars as an early warning system to reduce bird-window collisions, and investigating factors influencing local occupancy of Loggerhead Shrike in Wyoming. Holly grew up in Port Huron, Michigan and received her B.Sc. in Natural Resource Management from Central Michigan University, and her M.Sc. from Mississippi State University in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture. Holly is passionate about teaching, outreach, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her long-term career goal is to become a professor at an R1 institution, where she hopes to advance scientific understanding while cultivating an inclusive academic community. 

Angelica Solano is a Ph.D. candidate at Clemson University in the Rodriguez Human Dimensions of Wildlife lab. Her current research is rooted in the social and ecological sciences and is focused on human-jaguar conflict in Colombia. Angelica is assessing awareness and perceptions about jaguar conservation and human-jaguar conflict, whether Colombians are “buying into” jaguar conservation, and mapping human-jaguar conflict hotspots. She is from Bogota, Colombia, completed her B.S. in Conservation Biology from Lincoln Memorial University, and received an M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Clemson University.

Sierra McMurry (they/them) received a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from University of Montana where they completed an undergraduate research project using the Space to Event model. Sierra estimated densities of five big game species in northeastern Washington using camera trap data originally collected for a carnivore monitoring project and published this work as lead author. Sierra is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, and is currently a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University investigating how tree mast impacts mammal communities across the US using camera traps.