Student Presenters for 2016
Christopher Andolina
Hi! I’m a senior bio major at Cornell concentrating in ecology and evolutionary biology. I was born in San Mateo, California and lived in London and Frankfurt before moving back to Ithaca in 2005. I have always had a lifelong passion for animals and the outdoors which was first ignited through watching the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, do all sorts of crazy things with crocodiles, snakes, and other animals. I spend most of my summers in the Adirondacks and as a kid, catching frogs and salamanders was a staple in my day to day life up there and something that really generated a curiosity and love for nature. I’ve developed a passion for venomous and toxic animals, especially after I studied abroad in Australia and now I plan to pursue a career in research centered around the potential medical benefits from the dangerous compounds these animals produce.
Presentation Topic: Spiders
Joseph Barron
I am from Washington, DC. I’ve been chasing frogs and amphibians since before I could read, and I really hope to find a job that allows me to continuing doing so when I graduate! I love imparting my excitement to nature to others, from my friends to the kids I worked with when I was a camp counselor, it’s one of the most rewarding feelings I get.
Presentation Topic: Vernal pools
Sydney Calderon
Hi! I am a junior Animal Science major, Education minor at Cornell. I’ve been passionate about animals all my life and have been heavily involved in animal rescue and adoption growing up. In the past few years I have grown increasingly interested in wildlife and sharing my enthusiasm with others to show them how great animals can be. I work mostly with birds through the Cornell Raptor Program and my summer at the San Diego Zoo’s Avian Propagation Center (where I met this cute little Mt. Goliath Lorikeet chick!) and love to share my passion for birds with others! In the future I hope to reach as many people as possible to spread the word about the importance of wildlife and conservation.
Presentation Topic: Birds, beaks and adaptations
Erin Cantrell
I’m a current senior in Environmental and Sustainability Science with a concentration in biogeochemistry. I grew up on a 100 acre farm in Tennessee so I have always been surrounded by nature and had a passion for being outside. My mom is a teacher so I have been taught from a young age that sharing knowledge can be a joy for both those receiving and giving, so I want to pass on my experience to others and share this joy I find in nature and education. In my free time I teach outdoor education courses through Cornell, especially caving and rock climbing. These courses let my love for nature and adventure come together in an amazing job. I hope to continue doing informal science education once I graduate along with pursing a graduate degree.
Presentation Topic: Bats
Gillian Cowley
I am a current Junior studying Biology and Society with a focus on environmental conservation. I am a huge animal person and love spending time outdoors hiking, swimming and reading. My love for biology was sparked by my passion for understanding the links in ecosystems and how people relate to the world around us.
Presentation Topic: Animal communication – Secret Language of the Animal Kingdom
Deanna Gentner
As a child I spent the autumns picking grapes from my grandparent’s vineyards, the winters cutting firewood, and the spring tapping sugar maple trees. This upbringing instilled a love and appreciation for our natural world. I started college as an environmental studies major at a community college but soon gravitated towards food and agriculture because it is the single biggest way in which we are connected to the environment. So, I took several years off and got my hands in the dirt working on various small scale sustainable vegetable farms before starting here at Cornell. I began to realize spending many solitary hours in the field that this connection that I share with the natural world couldn’t stop with me, but I had to share it. This class is a perfect avenue for that.
Presentation Topic: Fire ecology
Jenn Guerrero
Jenn is an energetic and enthusiastic New York Native and proud owner of two slightly challenged reptiles. She’s obsessed with animals and a certified wildlife rehabilitator. She’s majoring in animal science and half-hearted attempts at veganism — she is a full-time vegetarian and student. Currently, she’s working Sheehan’s Lab on wasps and mice. She spends her summers working with vets in both Ecuador and the U.S.
Presentation Topic: Reptiles & amphibians
Kacie Hargett
Hello! I’m a senior entomology major at Cornell. I grew up in the small coastal town of Newport, Oregon. Some of my earliest memories involve catching jars of spiders with my brother, and playing on the track. Now, three thousand miles and many years later, I’m still doing the same things. Throwing the javelin gave me the opportunity to come to Cornell as part of the track and field team. Later, taking Dr. Linda Rayor’s “Spider Biology” course caused me to change my major and begin work in her lab caring for hundreds of arachnids. I’m very excited to connect these two passions and speak with you about characteristics of humans and animals which allow us to accomplish extraordinary feats
Presentation Topic: Animal athletics
Avery Hill
I’m from the redwood forests of northern California. I prefer to spend my time playing music, hiking, reading, and building things. I’ve sustained an immense interest in botany and general biology since I was a younger child. Learning about the world fills me with a limitless passion that I aim to distribute.
Presentation Topic: Plant adaptations to climate
Megan Joyce
I am a senior Environmental and Sustainability Sciences major. I have always wanted to work in conservation. Ever since I was little, I was always outside, going to the zoo and aquarium, attending nature camp, and visiting natural areas as much as possible. Throughout my time at Cornell, my classes have focused on the ecology and conservation strategies of various ecosystems. However, I have also immersed myself in the communication, policy, and sociology sides to conservation. I believe that for conservation to work, we need to look at all aspects of the situation and the possible solution, and I hope with my current path through college, I am gaining experience in all of the disciplines needed to translate the science behind conservation into informative and persuasive communication pieces. This summer I was in Hawaii working for NOAA doing communications for an integrated ecosystem assessment of the Kona Coast.
Presentation Topic: Food Webs
Zoya Kaufmann
Hi! I will graduate in December with a B.S. in Natural Resources, and minors in Fine Arts and Entomology. I came to Cornell to study “small things” like plants, insects, and pollen grain structures after discovering through my camera lens innumerable complex and colorful microecologies within my suburban Boston neighborhood. Since then, I’ve studied lichens in the UK, taught with Primitive Pursuits, and worked on weed biocontrol research with a USDA-ARS team. My mission statement is to make environmental data more useful to the public, whether that be through building maps and computational models, or creating art and outreach experiences. I’m currently working with a GIS-based model to predict when culverts in New York State will reach their capacities, and I couldn’t be happier.
Presentation Topic: Lichens
Kristianna Lea
Hello! I’m a currently a junior studying entomology. I grew up outside San Francisco, and I have found science fascinating since I was a kid. Growing up around fruit orchards, I became interested in insects and how such small beings could impact an entire ecosystem. I have also found a passion in academia and the idea of pursuing a profession in teaching; I’m excited to combine practical science work and education! I think it’s important that communities understand science at a global scale as well as what can be found in their own backyard. Through the entomology program and Naturalist Outreach, I am excited to keep learning, and I hope to engage and pass knowledge on to future generations.
Presentation Topic: Insect camouflage and mimicry
Shujie Li
Hello! I am a senior majoring in Biological Sciences, concentrating in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I transferred to Cornell from China Agricultural University in Beijing last year. Growing up in a big city, I take refuge in parks and botanical gardens to find my inner peace. Observing plants and their interactions with other kinds of organisms is absolutely fun—these creatures take roots in the ground and thus can’t move, but they have never given up adapting to the environment and asking wind, rain, and their animal friends for help to compensate their immobility.
Presentation Topic: Pollination
Jonah Morreale
I am an Upstate New York native who has always been drawn to the water. Whether its patrolling for sea turtles on the beaches of Greece, digging clams in Puget Sound, or catching crayfish in a local creek, you’ll usually find me somewhere wet. I am pursuing a career in marine biology, with the goal of making my passion a life-long one.
Presentation Topic: Waterways & streams
Liz Mueller
Hi! I am currently a junior majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Sciences with a concentration in Environmental Biology and Applied Ecology with a minor in Music. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always had an interest in mammals, and growing up in a small town near Hershey, Pennsylvania allowed me to make frequent trips to our zoo to learn more about the 200 North American animals that lived there. In high school, I competed on our Envirothon team, and when I arrived at Cornell, I knew I wanted to continue my study of natural world around me. I have been fortunate enough to be able to spend a summer with Shoals Marine Lab studying evolution and marine diversity both in the classroom and field, and, this past summer, I interned with Fort Drum Deer, where I helped work on a fawn mortality study. At home, I work as a tour guide in Hershey because I absolutely love teaching and talking to people, and I look forward to sharing my environmental passions with others this semester!
Presentation Topic: How mammals avoid predators
Daniel Pearlstein
I’m a senior at Cornell University studying Entomology, with a particular emphasis on chemical ecology. I grew up in Urbana, Illinois, where I fell in love with nature and the world around us. After I graduate, I hope to continue on to graduate school and earn a PhD in Entomology, and maybe pursue a career as a professor.
Presentation Topic: Ants
Kevin Pritts
Hello! I am a Junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences studying Entomology. I am focusing on medical entomology, currently studying mosquito borne diseases. I am from Trumansburg, NY where I grew up on a small U-Pick strawberry farm. I am an outdoor person, backpacking and rock climbing as much as I can! My interest in insects started in 6th grade, when I starting beekeeping with one of my teachers before getting several hives of my own. I love sharing my knowledge of insects with everyone who will listen. My dad and I have done several programs at The Ithaca Children’s Garden teaching kids about how honeybees cooperate, pollinate and make their delicious honey!
Presentation Topic: Honeybees & wasps
Jeremy Pustilnik
Hi I’m a junior at Cornell University studying ecology and evolutionary biology. I grew up in Houston, Texas, and have had a passion for wildlife since second grade when I first read a colorful children’s book about the tropical rainforest and made an art project on blue poison dart frogs. Over the years, I have come to specifically love studying the behavioral ecology of terrestrial vertebrates including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. I currently work in two ecology labs studying the ecology and behavior of North American salamanders and tree squirrels, although I have had 6 previous research internships in which I’ve studied prairie vole mating behavior, mouse stress behavior, ant physiological ecology, and human medicine. The reason I’ve been involved in so much research is because I want to become an inspirational professor of wildlife biology and behavioral ecology, and I look forward to teaching in this class about all the things I have come to know and love!
Presentation Topic: Amphibian Ecology & Evolution
Maria Van Dyke
As a young girl I was fascinated by medicinal plants. This lead me to become a botanist (a person who knows how to identify all plants and studies where those plants live in the world and in a landscape). One day I was looking at sunflower and I noticed a beautiful bee (that was NOT a honey bee) and I brought it into my classroom and looked at it under a microscope. The moment my eyes met the eyes of that bee I was lovestruck. Now I want to know all I can about as many different native bee species as possible (not honey bees). I have done research in Brazil, Panama, Mexico, and all across the United States and now use my knowledge of ecosystems, plant species and bee species to help conserve bees, agriculture and natural ecosystem functioning and open the public’s eyes to the many ways to be a bee.
Presentation Topic: Native bees
Nathaniel Vasquez
I am a junior in C.A.L.S. majoring in Biological Studies with a concentration in General Biology and minoring in business. Over Spring Break freshman year, I went to the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. There, I became interested in how these diverse animals interacted within their respective habitats, whether it was the sea lions on the beach, or the land iguanas in their mountainous terrain. As part of the Naturalist Outreach program, I would like to study and present on the animals indigenous to Ithaca and their interactions with other animals as well as their environment.
Presentation Topic: Predator-prey interactions
I am a Junior at Cornell University majoring in Animal Science and minoring in Fine Art. I love working with wildlife and spend a lot of my time with the Cornell Raptor Program!
Presentation Topic: Raptors