Carleisha received a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee. Prior to starting her M.S. at University of Georgia Odum School, she spent the past 3 years working at The Nature Conservancy doing GIS work for a range of conservation initiatives based in Colorado. She also spent 2 years as a field technician working for CFI a conservation fish hatchery working with rare and imperiled fish species all throughout the southeastern United States. Broadly, Carleisha is interested in stream ecology, ecological processes of freshwater fishes, and nature-based solutions.