Ph.D. Student, 2018 - present
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico
Advisor: Dr. Chris Witt
otakano [at] unm.edu
Education
M.S. Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, 2016
Texas A&M University
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Light
B.S. Biology cum laude, 2010
University of Florida
Professional Experience
2018 - present Graduate teaching & research assistant, UNM
2023 - 2025 Sloan Foundation-funded "Graduate Teaching Assistants as Agents of Change" Project Lead Graduate Fellow, Center for Teaching & Learning, University of New Mexico (UNM)
2017 - 2018 Program coordinator, oVert Project, Florida Museum of Natural History
2016 - 2018 Research assistant, Florida Museum of Natural History
2013 - 2016 Graduate teaching & research assistant, Texas A&M University
2013 Biologist, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
2011 Field technician, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
2009 - 2013 Research assistant, Florida Museum of Natural History
Fellowships, Grants & Awards
2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019 Grove Summer Research Scholarship, UNM $6,450
2023, 2021, 2019 Graduate & Professional Student Association Research Grant, UNM $1,500
2023, 2020 Jones & Wong Biology Scholarship, UNM $1,750
2023, 2022 Biology Graduate Student Association Travel Grant, UNM $300
2021, 2019 Biology Graduate Student Association Research Grant, UNM $1,200
2020 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Student Travel Award $50
2019 Doris & Samuel Welles Research Fund, UC Museum of Paleontology $1,120
2019 Los Angeles County Natural History Museum Collections Study Grant $1,400
2019 American Ornithological Society Hesse Research Award $1,530
2018 Florida Museum Staff Travel Award $1,000
2015, 2014 Student Development Grant, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, TAMU $1,000
2013 - 2015 Graduate Diversity Fellowship, TAMU $36,000
2014 Amazon Field School Scholarship, TAMU $1,500
2013 Graduate Excellence Fellowship, TAMU $7,000
Co-written Grants:
2023 Society of Systematic Biologists Graduate Student Research Award $3,000
2022 Graduate & Professional Student Association New Mexico Research Grant, UNM $5,000
2022 Biology Graduate Student Association Research Grant, UNM $1,200
Selected Biology Presentations (6/20)
*Invited speaker
2023 Evolution Meeting. Body size evolution in North American birds since the Late Pleistocene. Poster.
2021 *University of Texas Paleontology Seminar. "Raptor evolution in North America since the Pleistocene." Invited seminar talk.
2020 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Meeting, virtual meeting. "Raptor evolution in North America since the Pleistocene." Poster.
2020 North American Ornithological Conference, virtual meeting. "Raptor evolution in North America since the Pleistocene". Virtual talk.
2019 American Ornithological Society Meeting, Anchorage, AK. "Raptor evolution in North America since the Pleistocene". Poster.
2016 *Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, Baton Rouge, LA. "Host associations and biogeography of parasitic avian chewing lice across Sub-Saharan Africa". Invited seminar talk.
Biology Education Research Presentations
2024 *Colorado River Basin Symposium on Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Urban Development. "Graduate teaching assistants as agents of change." Satya Witt & Oona Takano. Las Vegas, NV. Invited panel presentation.
Field Experience
Conducted ornithological and paleontological field work at 14 sites in the United States, Peru, and the Bahamas.
Committees & Service
2023 - present Biology Graduate Student Association New Student Representative, UNM
2020 - 2021 Biology Graduate Student Association Scholarship Committee, UNM
2020 North American Ornithological Conference Student Affairs Committee
2019 - 2020 Biology Graduate Student Association Grants Co-Chair, UNM
2019 American Ornithological Society Meeting Student Affairs Committee
2019 Graduate & Professional Student Association Council Recorder, UNM
2016 Ecological Integration Symposium Organizing Committee, TAMU
2015 - 2016 Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Student Organization President, TAMU