A Tennessee-based wildlife biologist and natural resource planner, she officially stepped into new her teaching and research post on Jan. 1. The St. Louis native is particularly interested in landscape and habitat planning, human dimensions, invasive species management, wildlife conservation and herpetology. In the past her research has focused on wildlife habitat and connectivity modeling for highway planning in the Cherokee National Forest, and habitat suitability modeling for the invasive brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis). One of her primary goals at Texas Tech is to carry out research on regional landscape and habitat planning and management with studies on climate change, urban ecology, and human dimensions.