While completing my B.Sc. at Messiah University, I studied the ontogeny of the Panamanian golden frog, reproductive success of the Kirtland's warbler, and avian habitat associations in Pennsylvania. During this time I also helped to manage the collections for, and conducted outreach through, the Oakes Museum of Natural History. After graduating, I joined various ornithological research projects, including: examining the effects of elemental lead (Pb) on reproductive success, the social system and nesting success of variegated fairy-wrens, the breeding biology and behavior of Monteiro's storm-petrels, the site preference and nesting characterization of blue-throated mountaingems, and the overall fall migration through Ontario.