​​​​Isabel Martin is a senior at University of California Berkeley majoring in environmental sciences with a minor in food systems. She is passionate about enhancing conservation and helping communities of color connect with the outdoors. Isabel has a background in community engagement and academic interest in natural resource management. She is eager to apply her experience and learn about tribal conservation programs at the USFWS.

Marie Tosa is a PhD candidate in Wildlife Science at Oregon State University. Originally from Boston, MA, Marie earned her BA from New York University and her MS from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Currently, Marie studies how the animals, insects, plants, and fungi in federal forests of the Pacific Northwest are impacted by disturbances. Specifically, Marie is examining how the diversity of these groups is different in old-growth forests compared to recently thinned forests and plantations of Douglas fir. In addition, Marie studies the ecology of the western spotted skunk, an understudied but important carnivore species, and how they use the heterogeneous landscape. Through her research, she hopes to inform forest management and improve ways in which humans coexist with and protect natural areas.

Tania Romero is a biology graduate student in the Wood Lab at California State University Los Angeles. Tania received a bachelor’s degree in Ecology from University of California, San Diego and double minored in Environmental Studies and Ethnic Studies. Tania currently studies migration ecology in the Bear Divide area, a new locality to observe morning flights of thousands of passerines every spring in Los Angeles, California through mist-netting and bird banding practices. She has over six years of experience in avian research and environmental education within the non-profit sector, academia, and consulting firms. For this upcoming 2023 summer, Tania will be a DFP Fellow stationed in Amherst, MA in the USFWS Migratory Bird Program. Tania is excited to continue learning and pursuing a career working with migratory birds. 

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.

Nguyen Ha is a rising senior studying Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a concentration in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Nguyen grew up with an environmentally conscious mindset and brought that over to her education. Nguyen wants to continue to learn about the conservation, restoration, and education fields in environmental sciences and would love to combine all three fields in her future career.

Brier is an MS student from Gainesville Florida and their thesis centers on increasing the implementation of best management practices for wild pigs on private lands. During their undergrad journey, they attended Arizona State University, IU Indianapolis, and finally finished their degree in wildlife biology at Purdue University. Brier's work highlights include working with hellbenders and traveling across Indiana in search of eastern hemlocks!

I first became interested in vector-borne diseases as an undergraduate at Humboldt State University when I took a course on wildlife diseases. At the time, I was working in the Natural Resources Department for the Wiyot Tribe, a federally recognized Native American Tribe in northern California. I began asking questions about the intersection of tick-borne diseases, wildlife health, and human health, especially indigenous populations due to their proximity and intricate connection with nature. Early on, I began applying for funding on behalf of the Tribe. Throughout my time with the Wiyot Tribe, I wrote grants, prepared budgets, and gathered all necessary documentation for submitting proposals. I was involved in the application, management, and administration of several grant-funded projects from federal, state, and local non-profit agencies. Projects managed by the Natural Resources Department spanned environmental education, fisheries, ethnobotany, environmental restoration, food sovereignty, water quality monitoring, hazardous waste management, and indoor air quality. I had the privilege of working with children through the Tribal Youth Program by designing an environmental education curriculum and organizing field trips. Day-to-day fieldwork involved fish surveys, bird surveys, habitat restoration, and monitoring and mapping with various equipment types.

Being of service to the community was one of the most significant parts of the job. While working for the Tribe, I returned to Humboldt State a year after graduation to obtain a certificate of achievement in Geospatial Sciences through a year-long program. After working for the Wiyot Tribe, I became interested in working with a community-based approach and I accepted a position as a project manager with a non-profit organization called North Coast Health Improvement and Information Network. This work focused on healthcare and public health projects with various partnering organizations.

I began my graduate studies at the University of Georgia in the Fall of 2021, under the advisement of Dr. Michael Yabsley. Through UGA’s Integrative Conservation program, my research will explore predictive modeling techniques for tick densities and pathogen prevalence, disease risk for marginalized populations, and how climate change may impact human disease risk. My future goals center around advancing knowledge on the ecology of tick-borne diseases, employing innovative research methods to integrate the public into the scientific process, and advancing equity in academia.

Lauren Lyon is a PhD candidate at the University of Tennessee working on conservation of threatened mammals in the Appalachians. Much of her work utilizes GIS skills, coupled with field work and even local outreach. As a Tennessee native, Lauren has a vested interest in the region and broader southeast conservation, having taught Vertebrate Zoology and Ichthyology field courses for years. An avid naturalist, she strives to learn as much as she can about her ecosystems of focus and can often be found, hiking, snorkeling, and photographing wildlife in her spare time. She is excited to work with the LMVJV on waterfowl conservation given its importance to migratory birds in the region.

Born in Texas, Ari Espinosa made the leap to the West Coast in 2021 after receiving a scholarship for Washington State University. During the summer of her freshman year, Ari had the opportunity to explore conservation through a MANO internship, where she connected with many like-minded peers and mentors. Ari spend the summer with a variety of species ranging from the endangered Umtanum Desert Buckwheat to the beautiful Island Marble Butterfly, developing a range of new skills while deepening her own passion for conservation. Since then, she has begun work at her university's entomology lab, assisting with research on plant diseases such as PEMV (pea enation mosaic virus) and BLTVA (beet leafhopper-transmitted virescence agent). Ari will be spending her second summer with MANO as a Directorate Fellow in California, where she will be monitoring at-risk species and writing her own species status assessment for the Fish and Wildlife Service. On the days she isn't in a lab coat or studying, you will find Ari drawing, walking her dog (Booker), or practicing her management skills on digital farming games.

Hayley Robinson is from Ringgold, GA and is currently a Masters student in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. She has grown up in the mountains of north Georgia and Tennessee and has a passion for freshwater ecology and conservation. She has had past assistantships and tech positions with the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and Georgia Southern University. Her current research at UGA focuses on using genetics to assess freshwater mussel and fish host relationships in the Flint River (GA).