Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Headquarters
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

My career started in 2000 working under Dr. Cecil Schwalbe as a university Science Technician working on Chiricahua Leopard Frogs and Bullfrogs at the University of Arizona. Over the next few years, I went from a university employee to a federal employee as a Biologist. My main research focus has been on amphibians of the Southwest under the USGS, Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. My main work has been in Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Mexico with a focus on threatened and endangered amphibians, aquatic invasives, habitat change and alteration, population dynamics, and drought.

In 2009 I became an instructor under the USGS Firearms Safety Program instructing Specimen Collection and Defense Against Wild Animals. I worked my way to become the Regional Firearms Safety Manager for the Southwest, Northwest-Pacific Islands in 2012. A few years later I was asked to take over as the Safety Officer for the Southwest Biological Science Center pushing me even more into the safety world.

The transition to a full time Occupational Safety and Health Specialists seemed the logical choice. Not only do I instruct under the Firearms Safety Program but, instruct other courses like Wilderness First Aid, CPR/AED, Off Road Driving, Bear Spray, and other safety courses that our field biologists use to stay safe while working.