Science Gateway Internship Recipients
Leah Kerschner (2013- 2014)
Leah started in IERC’s internship program where she assisted in our southern Sierra Nevada bobcat-fisher relationships project during 2013- 2014. She then transferred into our IERC ecological technician staff and assisted on projects investigating ecosystem health and rodent population dynamics. Leah graduated from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada with a B.S. in biology.
Where are they now? Leah, as of 2017, was currently working as a biologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Services.
Wyatt Peterson (2012)
Wyatt was an undergraduate student intern from Humboldt State University Wildlife Department. Wyatt helped with the bobcat-fisher project in Hoopa California assisting in trapping bobcats.
Justin Demianew (2012-2013)
Justin was an undergraduate student in the Department of Wildlife at Humboldt State University. Throughout his undergrad career he worked on a variety of wildlife related projects involving small mammals, great grey owls in the Sierra Nevadas, and wolves in Idaho and Canada. Justin is a student intern for the Fall 2012 semester where he will be assisting in variety of molecular tasks for several IERC projects.
Where are they now? Justin, as of 2017, was pursuing his Master’s Degree at Humboldt State University in Wildlife Ecology studying the direct and indirect effects of nonnative trout removal on a high elevation herpetofauna community.
Kevin Weller (2012-2013)
Kevin was an undergraduate student intern from Humboldt State University. Kevin helped with the bobcat-fisher project as well as assisted in the IERC molecular lab on various molecular ecology projects. Kevin led our project on bobcat diet on the north-coast of California for his senior thesis.
Jaime Rudd (2011-2013)
Jaime was an undergraduate student intern during from Humboldt State University. She helped in the field on a project estimating population size of bobcats, coyotes and mountain lions using mark-recapture methods with fecal DNA. In addition, she worked on a parvovirus project on California native foxes through IERC and UC Davis. She ultimately used some of these data as part of her senior thesis within the HSU Biology Department.
Where are they now? After IERC, Jaime moved on to become an Environmental Scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Investigations Lab. She, as of 2014, was pursuing her PhD in the Animal Biology graduate group in UC Davis at the Janet Foley Laboratory focusing on a fatal sarcoptic mange outbreak occurring in the endangered San Joaquin kit fox.
Gregory Hacker (2012)
Gregory was a Master’s student in Wildlife at Humboldt State University under the direction of Dr. Richard Brown. His Master’s thesis is titled “Spatial clustering of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato within chipmunks and woodrat populations in northwestern California”. Gregory is a student intern for the summer of 2012 where he will be learning molecular techniques utilized for both genomic DNA amplification and pathogen detection in various IERC projects.
Where are they now? Greg as of 2015 was a biologist for the National Parks Service and California Department of Public Health.
Gary Sousa (2011)
Gary was an undergraduate in the Wildlife program at Humboldt State University. He assisted IERC on the Hoopa bobcat project by setting and checking traplines, assisting with captures, and performing scat surveys in 2011 – 2012.
Andre Arifin (2010)
Andre was a high school intern from Fresno, California who has an interest in medical biology. He learned various molecular techniques that can be used to study ecosystem health as well.
Where are they now? Andre graduated from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in Geographic Information Systems.
Courtney Nicks (2010-2012)
Courtney first was a student intern with IERC working on her senior project focusing on serological applications for exposure to tick-borne pathogens in Missouri carnivores. We then brought Courtney in as a field ecologist and lab technician for IERC from 2010-2012. She assisted in both training new crew members on telemetry and mesocarnivore trapping techniques, as well as laboratory methods including DNA extractions and serology. She is a graduate of Humboldt State University’s Wildlife program.
Where are they now? Courtney, as of 2014, was pursuing a Master’s degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Jeffrey Larkin. She was also a Terrestrial Unit Resource Science Assistant for the Missouri Department of Conservation.