I am a zoologist with interests in animal behavior, cognition, and conservation. I earned a Bachelor's degree in wildlife conservation, and a Master's in biology examining the evolution of monogamy. I am currently a PhD student working with Lauren Guillette in the Animal Cognition Research Group at the University of Alberta Department of Psychology, where I am studying cognition in birds.
I am fascinated by animal minds- what animals perceive, how they process this information and learn from it, and the decisions they make. I am interested in not only studying the cognitive mechanisms underlying behavior, but also why these cognitive mechanisms have evolved. How and why do individuals within a species differ in their cognition? What environmental and social factors shape cognitive abilities? How do species differ in their cognitive abilities and why? These big-picture questions are some of those that I hope to address during my PhD and beyond. For my PhD I am experimentally examining physical cognition in zebra finches. I recently have published research on physical cognition, nest building, and sex differences in zebra finches, and another paper looking at individual differences in learning abilities of zebra finches. |