CURRENT GRADUATE STUDENTS
Alisse Metge, Ph.D.
Alisse's Email:
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2023 - present
By fifth grade, I knew I wanted to be a biologist, and in eighth grade, I fell in love with genetics. As an undergrad at Brigham Young University in the early 1990s, I requested special permission to have two majors-- Molecular Biology and Conservation Biology-- in the same department, because there was no such thing as a Conservation Genetics major back then. I knew that I wanted to apply genetic studies to wildlife species, something that was relatively new at the time. After graduating from BYU, I spent several years working at Myriad Genetics in their diagnostics lab and then their gene discovery team, and one year teaching at a private liberal arts school, before returning to school at the University of Idaho for a Master's degree. At U of I, under the guidance of Janet Rachlow, I enjoyed doing the kind of research in conservation genetics that I had always dreamed of doing, studying genetic diversity and divergence in small mammalian populations (specifically, ground squirrels). Shortly after completing my MS, I left my academic and work career to become a full-time mother. While raising three children and many animals on our small farm in Spokane, I have continued to write about science on the side, particularly exploring the philosophy of science, the science-religion interface, and how to better communicate science to a broad and diverse audience.
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Because I have somewhat of a unique perspective, coming back to my field of study after nearly twenty years away from the workplace, I see the need to focus on big-picture issues. How can we better communicate our science in ways that motivate change in society? How can we be more effective in conserving genetic diversity? As climate change is an increasing worry among academics and a nearly-taboo topic in the grocery store check-out line, where should we focus both our communication and our conservation efforts to effect change in a world that is running out of time? These are questions I am compelled to pursue as someone who has spent time both inside and away from the discipline of conservation biology.
Fiona McKibben, Ph.D.
Fiona's Email:
[email protected] |
2023 - present
I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Idaho, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and I am co-advised by Dr. Janet Rachlow and Dr. Leona Svancara. My current research is focused on how climate influences the distribution, habitat selection, and behavior of pygmy rabbits across different spatial and temporal scales. More broadly, I am interested in mammalian conservation and ecology, resource selection, species distribution and abundance estimation, climate and land use change, statistical ecology, hierarchical models, and Bayesian inference. I am especially interested in applying and developing quantitative techniques for research focused on the conservation of threatened, rare, and understudied mammalian species. Prior to joining the Rachlow Lab, I completed my M.S. in Wildlife Science at New Mexico State University, where I researched multiscale habitat selection by an endemic chipmunk species. I enjoy hiking, biking, climbing, surfing, ultimate frisbee, gardening, reading fiction, eating good food, and playing outside. |
Lily Harrison, M.S.
Lily's Email: [email protected]
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2020 - present (but new to the Rachlow lab)!
How do habitat and climate factors influence seasonal territory occupancy by collared pikas in Alaska?
My passion for wildlife and the outdoors began as a child, tide-pooling in northern California where I grew up, volunteering at the local bird rescue center, and camping with my family. I discovered that “wildlife biologist” was a legitimate career path while in high school and had the opportunity to work with a biologist on caracals in Namibia, where my dedication to this field was solidified. I graduated from the University of Montana with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and went on to work on a wide variety of seasonal wildlife research projects including surveying birds in Wyoming, monitoring wolves in Yellowstone, studying sea snail morphology in Panama, and monitoring bighorn sheep in the Mojave Desert and Sierra Nevada with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife where I stayed for 2 years. These experiences helped me find my passion for alpine ecology and conservation in ecosystems highly impacted by climate change, and spurred my search for a graduate program to help me become a better scientist, communicator and leader in this field. For my master’s research, I’m working in collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on collared pikas in Alaska to quantify the effects of small-scale climate and habitat conditions on pika den occupancy, and how weather conditions during the summer affect foraging behavior. The goal of this research is to help inform management decisions about where to focus monitoring and conservation efforts for a species that may be heavily impacted by climate change but about which we know very little. |