Drone Pilot - Louisiana State University
November 2022 - April 2023
- Flew DJI Matrice 300 RTK flights to collect footage of wetland use by ducks and water birds
- Identified Arkansas waterbird species and ducks while flying
- Trained classifier in Darwin V7 to identify key species in forests & wetlands from drone images
- Created photogrammetry maps for stakeholders interested in how ducks used their land
Drone Pilot - North Dakota State University
Aug 2021 - Oct 2021, Aug 2022 - Oct 2022
- Flew 90 DJI Mavic Pro 2 and DJI Mavic Air 2 flights to monitor blackbird behavior on farms
- Assembled and loaded pesticide spraying drone (DJI Agras MG-1S) in the field
- Identified local nesting birds and migratory raptors
- Estimated sunflower crop damage created by the blackbird flocks
Drone Pilot/Commercial Fisherman - Vitamin Sea, Maine
July 2022 - August 2022
- Launched DJI Mavic Air 2 from boat to identify areas of high seaweed concentration
- Created informational videos to advertise benefits of sustainable seaweed harvesting
- Identified 10 types of native growing seaweed on the coasts of Maine for harvest
UAV Field Technician - University of Florida
January 2022 - June 2022
- Flew daily DJI Inspire and Wingtra flights to catalogue nesting success in Everglades
- Conducted monthly aerial surveys by fixed-wing aircraft to identify small wading bird colonies
- Monitored 10 wading bird colonies weekly by checking nests along a transect
- Navigated through Everglades while driving airboats (100 hours accumulated)
- Identified wading birds in colony photos and counted individual nests in Photoshop
You can read about it here!
Wildlife/Habitat Songbird Technician - Oregon State University
April 2021 - June 2021
- Identified sagebrush obligate songbirds by calls, songs, and visual cues during point counts
- Conducted nest searching and monitoring during the breeding season
- Sampled and identified local vegetation species inside and outside of grazed pastures
- Set camera traps and iButtons in and around nests to monitor predator presence
- Trained Kaleidoscope advanced classifier to identify over 10 species of bird calls in local plots
Research Assistant - National Oceanic and Atmopsheric Administration
December 2020 - March 2021
- Identified live/bleached corals in photo surveys and estimated live coral area using CPCe 4.0
- Managed coral out plant database using Microsoft Access
- Input coral nursery and out plant data into database
Fishery Technician II - Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation, Alaska
August 2020 - October 2020
- Assisted in the execution of pink salmon egg take at Cannery Creek Hatchery
- Quickly identified sex of pink salmon by sight before sorting them to be spawned or bucked
- Carefully removed eggs from hens before fertilizing them using bucks
- Removed bad eggs and outside materials before eggs entered an incubator to optimize survival
- Seined the approach channel to obtain bucks and hens that would not swim up river
Rachel Carson Scholar - Duke University, NC
October 2018 - May 2020
- Modeled the carbon sequestration potential of oyster aquaculture in the United States
- Compared aquaculture sequestration to other offsets in the California Cap and Trade System
- Participated in biweekly professional development meetings
Field Research Assistant - Duke University, NC
Bass Connections: Oyster Reef Health
August 2020 - October 2020
- Classify and catalogue invertebrates in oyster reef samples
- Quantify oyster size classes and clump sizes represented in oyster reef samples
- Deployed ARMs around sampling sites to assess sessile community structure and development
- Conducted spatial surveys and traditional ecological surveys in Beaufort, NC
Summer Student Fellow - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, MA
May 2019 - August 2019
- Crafted habitat-specific potential food webs for a fully functioning commercial seaweed farm
- Theoretically modeled and quantified ecosystem services provided by seaweed farms
- Delivered a speed talk and poster session
- Presented this work at AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting in February 2020
Research Student - University of Queensland Research Station, Heron Island, AU
March 2019
- Designed threat assessment protocol for shrimp gobies in Shark Bay
- Spent 5 hours in the water per day measuring threat responses of individual goby burrows
- Delivered a speed talk and paper presentation
Data Processor - Duke Marine Robotics & Remote Sensing Lab, NC
January - May 2019
- Designed threat assessment protocol for shrimp gobies in Shark Bay
- Spent 5 hours in the water per day measuring threat responses of individual goby burrows
- Delivered a speed talk and paper presentation
Field and Research Assistant - Makokou, Gabon
Poulsen Lab, Duke University, NC
March 2018 - May 2019
- Designed and executed 15 elephant baiting trials in Ivindo National Park, Gabon over 10 weeks
- Followed collared elephants on three 10-day follows through Ivindo National Park
- Searched dung piles thoroughly to retrieve seed models from 120 individual dung piles and marked GPS location to estimate GPT and seed dispersal distances
- Assisted in design and development of GPT and seed shadow calculation and visualization code
Beirne, Christopher, Nuñez, Chase L., Baldino, Melissa, Kim, Seokmin, Knorr, Julia, et al. (2019) Estimation of gut passage time of wild, free roaming forest elephants. Wildlife Biology 1 : 1-7.
Poulsen JR, Beirne C, Rundel C, Baldino M, Kim S, Knorr J, et al. (2021) Long Distance Seed Dispersal by Forest Elephants. Front. Ecol. Evol. 9:789264. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.789264
Undergraduate Research Associate - Rausher Lab - Duke University
October 2016- May 2018
- Executed PCRs and gel electrophoresis on Ipomoea lacunosa and Ipomoea cordatotriloba DNA specific to nectar to locate points of similarity and analyze evolutionary speciation
- Managed two experimental growth rooms with 1400 Ipomoea individual specimen
- Conducted pollen count experiments under microscope
DukeEngage Costa Rica - Monteverde Institute, CR
June - August 2017
- Designed 14-point protocol for rapid assessment of tropical forest integrity and development in reforested areas to determine impacts of reforestation efforts
- Conducted verbal surveys in spanish with farmers on their interest in free reforestation services
- Planted 3000+ trees in fincas to create habitat for endemic species
