When asked what I do, I describe myself as an ecological statistician. I received my PhD from the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University in 2008, and then spent two years as a NSERC/PIMS funded post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Statistics at The University of British Columbia, I am currently employed as an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.

I have always been interested in biology and my primary research in statistics is motivated by the challenges of analysing data from mark-recapture experiments to help monitor and manage threatened animal populations. Although I do not study a specific taxa, much of my work in mark-recapture has focused on problems in fisheries management and during my PhD I worked with scientists from the Trinity River Restoration Project and BC Hydro to develop improved methods for estimating escapement/returns of wild salmon populations. I am also interested in applied Bayesian statistics and functional data analysis. Further details about my current research and my future plans can be found in my research statement and list of publications.

I take my teaching duties seriously and have been lucky to have a generous teaching release in my initial years at UK. This has allowed me to spend time developing the courses I will teach without losing focus on my research. I firmly believe that students at all levels need to practice what they learn and try to incorporate components of active learning into all of my course. You can find more information about my teaching background and the courses I have taught at UK and SFU on my teaching page and in my teaching statement.

In my spare time I like to be outside as much as possible. I became interested in birdwatching as a teenager and spent two summers during my BSc as a field ornithologist conducting breeding bird surveys and banding birds with the Long Point Bird Observatory in 1998 and the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project in of 1999. Good spots I have found to bird in and around Lexington include The Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, The University of Kentucky Arboretum, and (my favorite) The Lexington Cemetery. For more information about birding in Kentucky you should visit the website of the Kentucky Ornithological Society where you can register to receive e-mails from the BIRDKY Listserv. I also enjoy hiking, canoeing, and camping whenever I get the chance, and currently play hockey for a team in the Lexington Amateur Ice Hoceky Association.