Dr. Sarah Converse

I am the Unit Leader of the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) & the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS) at UW. I am also member of the IUCN Conservation Translocations Specialist Group and the Editorial Board at Conservation Letters.

Officially, I’m interested in doing science that helps managers make better, more informed, and more transparent decisions about the management of fish and wildlife populations. Unofficially, I’m interested in staying out of the way and letting the excellent post-docs and students I’m lucky enough to work with do their magic. You can read more about them on this page.

You can find out more about our work on my Google Scholar page and the lab GitHub page. My current CV can be found here. You can also find me, occasionally, on Twitter.

Post-Docs

Dr. Matt Farr

Project: Maximizing the Value of Salish Sea Aerial Surveys for Sea Duck Management

Contact: farrm (at) uw.edu

I develop quantitative methods for community and population ecology. I utilize hierarchical models to parse out the complexities of ecological systems into processes that can be described using multi-level statistical and mathematical models. I work with partners in academia and government agencies to apply these methods to conserve and manage wildlife populations. The aim of my postdoctoral research is to develop a quantitative framework to assess population trends and distributions of sea ducks and other marine birds within the Salish Sea. In collaboration with Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, we are using long-term aerial survey data to estimate spatiotemporal variation in sea duck abundance and potential environmental drivers of their spatial distribution and temporal trends. Results from this work will improve methods to estimate sea duck abundance and inform harvest regulations. For more information about me or my work, please see my website (https://farrmt.github.io/).

Graduate Students

Ms. Abby Bratt

Project: Integrated population modeling for evaluating status and effects of management actions in streaked horned larks.

Contact: aebratt (at) uw.edu

I am a PhD student in the Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management (QERM) program. Before starting graduate school, I got my B.S. in statistics, also at UW. While here I’ve had the privilege of working on a variety of taxa from salmonids to seabirds to people. My current work focuses on the development of integrated population models for endangered birds. In particular, I work on Streaked Horned Larks in Washington State, and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross on Gough Island in the South Atlantic. In both cases, I am developing an integrated population model to better understand trends in abundance, survival, and reproduction with respect to management actions. When I’m not thinking about how to use models to better inform management decisions, I’m also interested in statistics education and data visualization. You can read more about me here and find me on Twitter here.

Ms. Amelia DuVall

Project: Seabird population modeling and threats assessment at Channel Islands National Park

Contact: ajduvall (at) uw.edu

I am a Master’s student within the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. Prior to joining the Quantitative Conservation Lab, I spent several years routinely getting pooped on while studying seabirds at Channel Islands National Park in southern California. In previous lives, I’ve worked as a veterinary technician at an emergency animal hospital, galley cook on a whale-watching boat, and program manager at an environmental consulting company. My research interests include seabird population dynamics, restoration ecology, island biogeography, and seabird conservation and resource management. You can find out more about my research here and follow me on Twitter here.

Eve Hallock

Project: Impacts of invasive rats on brown booby nest success on Tetiaroa Atoll, French Polynesia

Contact: eveh (at) uw.edu 

I am a Master’s student in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington, co-advised with Dr. Beth Gardner. Prior to joining the Quantitative Conservation Lab, I completed my B.A.s in Anthropology and Biology & Society at Cornell University in 2020. My current research interests are: island conservation, seabird biology, atoll ecology, invasive species, human history with nature, and resource management. Previous fieldwork has included projects on: moose foraging in Norway, Marbled Murrelet nest tracking in Oregon, Galápagos Finch banding in Ecuador, seabird and native forest conservation on Palmyra Atoll, Masked Bobwhite reintroductions in Arizona, and Acorn Woodpecker behavior in California. 

Mr. Liam Pendleton

Project: Population and foraging ecology of Pigeon Guillemots in Puget Sound

Contact: pendle (at) uw.edu

I am a Master’s student at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. I received my B.S. from Eastern Michigan University, where I studied the impacts of variation in food availability on spatial habitat use of the red crossbill by developing statistical models. I have also studied long-term population viability of black terns in the Detroit area, and I worked in wildlife rehabilitation for three years. My research interests include population, behavioral and spatial ecology and the use of telemetric methods to learn of the impacts of various stimuli on individuals’ decision-making, and more broadly, how population dynamics are impacted by humans and the changing environment.

Mr. Nathan Redon

Project: Assessing threats to the declining Cascade red fox combining capture-recapture methods & Indigenous knowledge

Contact: nredon (at) uw.edu

I am a Master’s student in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. Before joining the Quantitative Conservation Lab, I completed my B.S. in Environmental Science and Resource Management with a focus on Wildlife Conservation, also at UW. I’ve spent many moons diving on sage grouse, staring at gelada monkeys, and howling at wolves. More recently, I’ve been involved with projects studying endangered fishers and montane foxes in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. My research interests include carnivore population dynamics, conflicts at the human-wildlife interface, and intraguild interactions in changing montane landscapes. I am currently working to develop estimates of density and survival of Cascade Red Fox in Mt. Rainier National Park and the surrounding area.

Ms. Hannah Sipe

Project: Species reintroductions and decision analysis

Contact: sipeh (at) uw.edu

I am a PhD student in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) at the University of Washington. My current research is focused on species reintroductions and structured decision making. More broadly, I’m interested in population estimation and dynamics, conservation ecology, decision analysis, reintroduction science, optimization techniques, and generally using mathematical and statistical methods applied to conservation of species. I received my MS degree from the Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management (QERM) program at the University of Washington (also working with Dr. Sarah J. Converse) in December of 2019. My master’s research focused on determining the distribution of Summer Breeding Common Loons in Washington State and optimal survey design for Common Loon monitoring. I attended the University of North Carolina in Wilmington for my undergraduate degrees, where I graduated with a BS in marine biology and a BA in mathematics. You can find out more here.

Ms. Brielle Thompson

Project: Invasive species management models

Contact: bkwarta (at) uw.edu

I am a PhD student in the Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management program at the University of Washington. I am co-advised by Dr. Sarah Converse and Dr. Julian Olden. Prior to graduate school, I received a B.A. in mathematics and minors in biology and education at Houghton College in Western NY. During undergrad I completed research at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the University of Tennessee and built a bio-economic feral cat population model that compared management strategies. I also completed an internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and worked on a project that identified potential natural land corridors to facilitate safe movement of black bears across East Tennessee. My graduate research involves applying mathematical, statistical, and geospatial models to better inform invasive species management.

Research Scientists

Ms. Kelly Mistry

Project: Optimal monitoring and management of brown treesnakes

Contact: kmistry (at) uw.edu

I am a recently minted quantitative ecologist, primarily interested in research that focuses on improving human-ecosystem relationships and interactions. I have worked with a variety of different models and ecosystem contexts, and am always looking to learn new methods or about new species and environments. In my master’s work, I used state space and spatiotemporal models and compared these modeling methods in the context of managing groundfish stocks in the Gulf of Alaska in partnership with colleagues at NOAA Fisheries and with the assistance of my advisor, Dr. Mark Scheuerell. In the Quantitative Conservation Lab, I am working with Dr. Staci Amburgey to inform management decision-making regarding optimizing the eradication of the invasive brown treesnake from Guam using simulation modeling. 

In addition to being a scientist, I am also a historian and an artist (poetry and dance), and I try to bring all of these modalities to bear in my work. To contact me or learn more, visit my website. I’m always happy to talk with anyone considering science as a career coming from a non-traditional or first-generation background.

Lab Affiliates

Dr. Staci Amburgey

Project: Optimal monitoring and management of brown treesnakes

Contact: Staci.Amburgey (at) dfw.wa.gov

I am a former post-doc in the QCons Lab, now working as a quantitative ecologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Science Division in the Wildlife Program. I help plan and implement field studies and analyze data related to the management and conservation of a variety of species within the state of Washington. I am helping to finish work on my previous post-doctoral project, focused on monitoring brown treesnakes in Guam, and developing optimal monitoring and management schemes to guide future monitoring and efforts at control and eradication. Prior to coming to Washington, I completed a Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University and a M.S. at Colorado State University. You can read more about me here.

Mr. Aadithya Prakash

Project: PIT tag detection system for Brown Treesnakes

Contact: aadu (at) uw.edu

I’m a Master’s student in Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington and co-founder of a sustainable product development company called Murrelet Innovation LLC. I previously received my B.S.E in Computer Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where I specialized in embedded systems and biomedical signals. I have over 5 years of industry experience writing and testing firmware for consumer electronics. From this, I have been able to bring elements of rapid prototyping, sensor aggregation, machine learning, embedded systems, and wireless communication to the wildlife conservation community. I previously helped the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels Lab, at the University of Washington, develop robust weighing scales to study Magellanic Penguins in Patagonia. I am currently working with Dr. Staci Amburgey to develop a PIT tag detection system that can be deployed in Guam to automatically detect invasive brown treesnakes. Outside of the lab, I am prototyping a low-cost and low-power “smart” camera-trap that can detect certain animal species in real-time. When I am not working, you can find me birding, backpacking, or endurance running.

Past Lab Members

Dr. Amanda Warlick (Ph.D., 2018-2022; Post-Doc, 2022)

Dr. Lisanne Petracca (Post-Doc, 2020-2022)

Dr. Mark Sorel (Ph.D., 2018-2022)

Ms. Tam Ta (Undergraduate, 2020-2022)

Ms. Marcela Todd (Undergraduate, 2020-2021)

Dr. Nathan Hostetter (Post-Doc, 2016-2020)

Dr. Martina Kadin (Post-Doc, 2017-2020)

Dr. Jonathan Cummings (Post-Doc, 2013-2017)

Dr. Sabrina Servanty (Post-Doc, 2010-2013)

Dr. Stefano Canessa (Ph.D., University of Melbourne, 2011-2015)