Brenda Ramirez completed her undergraduate degree at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona where she majored in Biology with an emphasis in Zoology and minored in Chemistry. During her time at Cal Poly Pomona, she was able to gain valuable hands-on experience through her lab classes, allowing her to learn many lab techniques as well as field techniques. Some of her greater accomplishments include conducting independent research that she presented at the North American Ornithological Conference, as well as gaining R skills in data analysis. Now as a Master’s student, Brenda is expanding on the skills she learned as an undergrad and learning new skills, including how to create species distribution models in R, that will be instrumental in her pursuit of working in wildlife conservation. In the future, Brenda hopes to pursue a career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve and protect wildlife.