Staff
Lisa Hayward, Post Doctoral Fellow:

Lisa Hayward studies stress physiology. She is particularly interested in developing physiological measures from scat as relevant indicators of disturbance impacts.  Currently she is collaborating with her post-doctoral advisor, Dr. Sam Wasser, as well as managers from U.S Fish and Wildlife and the U.S Forest Service, and motorcycle riders from the Blue Ribbon Coalition to examine the effects of off-road vehicle use on the physiology, behavior and reproductive output of the northern spotted owl.  Lisa completed her dissertation work in the lab of John Wingfield on the effects of high maternal corticosterone in egg yolk on offspring development and phenotype.
Kathleen S. Gobush, Ph.D. Candidate:

Kathleen Gobush is a fifth year graduate student researching African elephant hormones, behavior, and genetics in Mikumi National Park , Tanzania . She is investigating how elephant group composition is related to their competitive ability, reproductive output and stress physiology, using non-invasive fecal hormone and molecular techniques. Kathleen was awarded a University of Washington Alice and Byron Lockwood Graduate Student Fellowship in 2001, and a three-year National Science Foundation in 2003.  She is currently serving as an NSF GK-12 Fellow, helping kindergarteners and first graders understand mathematical concepts.

Kathleen graduated from Barnard College , Columbia University with a B.A. in Biology in 1996. She has a dual background in field research and laboratory science and has brought both skill sets to her doctoral

degree pursuit. She studied the behavior ecology and reproduction of several wild species including the black lion tamarin in southern in southern Brazil , greater spear-nosed bats in trinidad, and Tule elk in Norhern California . For two years, Kathleen also worked in pharmaceutical quality control in the Seattle area. She hopes to continue conducting non-invasive research to promote conservation of endangered species.
Carly Vynne, Ph.D. Candidate:

Carly Vynne is a graduate student with the Department of Biology. She is currently employing Center techniques to study maned wolves and other large mammals in the Cerrado of Brazil. Her Ph.D. research combines fieldwork, hormone analysis, and GIS spatial modeling to understand the influence of a changing landscape on persistence of the savanna's mammalian fauna. Carly has received fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, and the National Security Education Program.
Prior to entering graduate school, Carly worked at Conservation International as the Senior Manager for Biodiversity Analysis and Planning. Her work brought her to such diverse countries as Suriname , Colombia , Ghana , Samoa , Australia , Papua New Guinea , China , Indonesia , and the Phillippines. Before starting at Conservation International, Carly lived and worked in South Africa on a lion introduction project. Carly received her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College .
Siri Nelson, Graduate Student:

Siri is a graduate student with the department of Biology. She is interested in applying methods from Population Genetics and Evolutionary Biology to Wildlife Conservation. Siri is utilizing the Center's non-invasive genotyping approach and using immunogenetics to focus her research on the role of disease pressures on threatened and fragmented populations. She is currently focusing her work on African Elephants, but she hopes to develop non-invasive methods that could be applied to other threatened species.
Before coming to the UW, Siri was employed at Seattle Biomedical Research Insitute where she worked as a Research Technician. She worked on pathogen genome sequence projects including Leishmaniasis, Malaria, and African Sleeping Sickness. Siri received a B.S. in Biology, Field Ecology and Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College.
Katherine Ayres, Graduate Student:

Katherine is a graduate student with the department of Biology.  She is interested in using a health panel of non-invasive physiological measures to evaluate different potential pressures impacting the southern resident killer whales of the Pacific Northwest .  The declining resident population is facing loss of prey base, boat traffic pressure, contamination from chemicals such as PCBs, possible infection and reproductive failure.  Her dissertation will assess the physiological impact of these pressures to help guide killer whale conservation planning and mitigation. 
Photo by Fred Felleman
Before coming to the University of Washington , Katherine worked in a developmental biology lab at Pomona College studying Drosophila GDI, a protein involved in vesicle transport.  She received a BA in Biology from Pomona in 2004.  Her senior thesis described the expression pattern of hydra Orthopedia, a gene involved in nervous system development. 
Rebecca Nelson Booth, Research Scientist:

Rebecca Nelson Booth conducts hormone and DNA analyses on the wide variety of animal species studied by the CCB. She is dedicated to combine her love and passion for wildlife and the environment with lab techniques and experiments that facilitate conservation.

Before joining Dr. Wasser’s Conservation Biology lab, Rebecca worked at Western Fisheries Research

Center assisting in the study of Chinook salmon immunology and disease. Rebecca received her AAAS in Biotechnology from Shoreline Community College in 2001, a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Washington and has been working in the CCB lab since September of 2003.
Celia Mailand, Research Scientist:

Celia Mailand joined the Center for Conservation Biology in June of 2004 to work on the ivory tracking project. She currently works on all DNA analysis projects.

Celia graduated from the Department of Biology at the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a minor in Botany. As an undergraduate, she participated in many research opportunities with Dr. Benjamin Hall and Dr. Roger del Moral and was also a Howard Hughes Biology Fellow.
Heath Smith, Conservation Canine Program Coordinator:

Heath received his B.Sc. from the University of Tennessee in 1996. He began working as a dog handler and orienteer with the Center for Conservation Biology in 2001. Heath now serves as the Program Coordinator for the Center's Conservation Canine program. Heath is the primary dog trainer and handler for the Center, where he works alongside his best bud, Gator.
Chris Zieminski, Conservation Canine Handler:

Chris received his B.Sc. from the University of Vermont in 2003 and joined the Center for Conservation Biology as a dog handler in 2004. He currently serves as one of our lead handlers and project leader. 
Bud Marks, Conservation Canine Handler:

Bud received his B.Sc. from the University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse in 2004 with an Environmental Sciences Major and Chemistry Minor. He was an intern on the Northern Spotted Owl study in conjunction with the Center for Conservation Biology and became a dog handler in December 2005. Bud is currently working on the matching project identifying individuals from scat.
Lindsay Madden, Conservation Canine Handler:

Lindsay received her B.Sc. in Biology from Western Washington University in 2004. After graduation, she interned with the Smithsonian where she trained a detection dog to find scat from Asiatic black bears in China . Lindsay came to work for the Center for Conservation Biology in October 2005 and she hopes to complete a graduate degree within the near future. She is currently working on the matching project identifying individuals from scat.