I maintain and develop web applications as a member of the Bird Academy team. This includes maintaining and upgrading our WordPress courses platform and doing the programming and various other work on our games and interactive features.

During my childhood in Vermont, I formed a very strong bond with nature and the outdoors, and gained a curiosity-based and conservation-minded approach to life. The progression from walking in the woods because it’s beautiful, to wanting to know more about that tree, fungus, or bird, to wanting to protect it, feels incredibly natural to me. In parallel, I learned to love computer programming for the sheer creativity it enables. I was fortunate to be able to study both computer science and a natural science (astronomy) in school. Subsequently I’ve used that knowledge to teach game programming classes for youth and do astronomy outreach education for the general public.

Working as a web developer at the Lab of Ornithology, and specifically on the Bird Academy team, has been a perfect way to combine my interests and background in computer science, the natural sciences, and education. If I can use the internet as a tool to inspire others to be more curious and caring towards the natural world around them, then I have ultimately succeeded in my work.

I am an avid hiker, tree climber, and space exploration geek, and have been recently learning vegetable gardening.