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Hall Of Fame

Abdullahi Hussein Ali (former PhD student, UW)

Abdullahi Hussein Ali (former PhD student, UW)

Besides the guy in the Dos Equis commercials, Abdullahi Hussein Ali might be the most interesting man in the world (we're biased, of course!). Fluent in four languages, Ali was born to a household of 13 brothers and sisters on the Kenya-Somali border. At the age of eight, he first set foot in a permanent structure, a schoolhouse that his uncle--then the Chief of General Staff of the Kenya Defence Forces--built with funds from the president as a reward for suppressing a military coup.

Ali's dissertation focused on the range collapse, demography, and conservation of hirola, a critically endangered antelope confined to a swath of unprotected land in eastern Kenya.

Current position: Director and Founder, Hirola Conservation Programme

Adam Ford (former PhD student, UBC)

Adam Ford (former PhD student, UBC)

Adam "AKA All Terrain, AKA Aboot Toque, AKA Alcohol-Tobacco-Firearms" Ford completed a Liber Ero postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Guelph, before joining the faculty at the University of British Columbia Okanagan as a Canada Research Chair.

We have many fond and unusual memories of Adam. These include, but are not limited to, a Hazzard county-esque chase ending unceremoniously with bout of pink eye, and a tense situation involving a dying rabbit call, a leopard, and an unspeakable amount of mud. He will be missed mightily, and we don't mean perhaps.

Current position: Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Restoration Ecology, University of British Columbia Okanagan

Alois Wambua (former research technician, Mpala)

Alois Wambua (former research technician, Mpala)

Alois "Ali" Wambua worked both as the small mammal fundi for the UHURU experiment and the Mammalogy Section at the National Museums of Kenya. His work was funded by the Kenya National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation and the U.S. National Science Foundation, and he is now pursuing an MSc at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. His involvement with UHURU rounded out our research group's triumvirate of high-quality Ali's.

Current position: Research Assistant, Pride of Meru Programme

Amos Kibara (former research technician, Ijara)

Amos Kibara (former research technician, Ijara)

Amos Muthee Kibara worked as the lead technician for Ali's field work on hirola conservation in Ijara, Kenya. He joined our group from the Mount Kenya Conservancy where he helped manage a captive breeding program for highland bongos. We are glad Amos sacrificed personal comfort to trade the balmy foothills of Mount Kenya for the blistering heat of Ijara for this work! He continues to serve as coordinator of field conservation for the Hirola Conservation Program.

Brandon Hays (former MSc student, UW)

Brandon Hays (former MSc student, UW)

After a year-long stint at the Ipassa Research Center in Gabon, Brandon Hays (left) wore many hats: big-headed ant project manager, UHURU small-mammal trapper, Fulbright scholar, and professional handler of Drs. Goheen, Riginos, Palmer, and Pietrek. He officially joined our group in Spring 2018, and wrote a bang-up thesis on the demography of mutualism breakdown in Laikipia.

Brandon cut his teeth on Morris and Doak's demographic modeling book, and quickly gained some madd skillz in said techniques. In addition, we will never forget the near-collison between land rovers KAW (Rutherford), driven by Brandon at a top speed of 2km/hr, and KBG (Dookie), push-started at a top speed of 3km/hr.

Current position: PhD Student, Duke University

Brendan Oates (former MSc Student, UW)

Brendan Oates (former MSc Student, UW)

Brendan "AKA Husky, AKA Boatesy" Oates recently completed a top-notch thesis, co-advised by Matt Kauffman and Jake, disentangling predation from bottom-up factors (drought and fire) in driving anti-predator behavior and vital rates of Shiras moose (Alces alces shirasi).

Brendan will be remembered fondly for his rigourous approach to wildlife ecology, passion for fieldwork, killer garlic bread, and formidable beard. He and Jake share an inordinate, borderline creepy fondness for Pearl Jam, and Rogue One.

Current position: Biologist, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Brett Jesmer (former PhD student, UW)

Brett Jesmer (former PhD student, UW)

Co-advised by Matt Kauffman and Jake, Brett "AKA Beej" Jesmer defended his dissertation in Fall 2018. Recently, he commenced postdoctoral studies at the Max Planck-Yale Center for Biodiversity, Movement, and Global Change, then started a job at Virginia Tech in 2021. Brett's dissertation focused on resource limitation, population dynamics, migration, and darned near everything else about moose throughout the Intermountain West.

From dust-ups with the authories on Lake Naivasha to emergency sprints into the Hoback Basin bush, Brett will forever occupy a unique space not only in our heads, but in our hearts as well.

Current position: Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech University

Bridget Conneely (former MSc student, UBC)

Bridget Conneely (former MSc student, UBC)

Bridget Conneely earned her MSc with Jake through the University of British Columbia in 2011. Through the Gorongosa Restoration Project, Bridget worked to understand the influence of fire on resource selection by buffalo and wildebeest recently reintroduced to Gorongosa National Park.

Current position: Director, Educational Media, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Britt Brito (former MSc student, UW)

Britt Brito (former MSc student, UW)

In 2020, Britt "AKA BTB" Brito completed a bang-up thesis on occupancy and diet specialization of the Wyoming pocket gopher, one of North America's most restricted and rarest rodents.

Britt is a superfan of the Green Bay Packers, and other mammals great and small. Enduring Jake for three courses during her undergraduate bestowed Britt with the patience and tenacity necessary to endure the Tatooine-esque landscapes of Wyoming's Red Desert.

Current position: Biologist, Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Caroline Ng’weno (former PhD student, UW)

Caroline Ng’weno (former PhD student, UW)

In 2017, Caroline Chebet Ng'weno earned a dual doctorate in Zoology and Hartebeest Whispering. Currently the Deputy Director of Ecological Monitoring at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Caroline completed a dissertation that was at once conceptually interesting and relevant to the conservation of lions and wild ungulates within Laikipia.

In addition to all of *that*, Caroline spearheaded Earthwatch expeditions, established an outreach program for Samburu women interested in livestock production alongside conservation, and became a black belt in R throughout the course of her dissertation work. And she didn't even bat an eye during the Great Aardvark Rodeo of '07.

Current position: Director of Science, Nature Kenya

Cate Lonyangaita (research technician, Mpala)

Cate Lonyangaita (research technician, Mpala)

Cate Lonyangaita was a valuable member of Team UHURU, coming to us from Dr. Steve's wildlife vet crew at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Ceicil Otieno (former GIS technician, Mpala)

Ceicil Otieno (former GIS technician, Mpala)

Ceicil Otieno conducted his student attachment with us from the Kenya Institute of Surveying and Mapping. Under the wise tutelage of George Aike, Ceicil worked to tile, mosaic, georeference, and classify over 400 aerial photos of Mpala and neighboring ranches in Laikipia.

Christian Bopp (former research technician, Ol Pejeta)

Christian Bopp (former research technician, Ol Pejeta)

Christian Bopp (right) worked with Caroline on Ol Pejeta Conservancy to characterize the determinants of lion kill-sites. In this photo, Christian is simulating the role of a poacher (who typically wear oversized puffy blue coveralls), thereby enticing a special forces dog to gnaw on his arm.

Current position: MSc Student, Northern Arizona University

Clint Atkinson (former research technician, UW)

Clint Atkinson (former research technician, UW)

Clint Atkinson worked with us as a technician on the statewide moose project. From humble beginnings sorting moose kidneys under the watchful eye of Brett Jesmer, he now works in the enviable position of large carnivore biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department out of Lander, Wyoming. Way to go Clint; mind those ursids.

Current position: MSc Student, University of California Berkeley

Corinna Riginos (former postdoctoral fellow, UW)

Corinna Riginos (former postdoctoral fellow, UW)

Corinna Riginos is a staff scientist for The Nature Conservancy in Lander, managing the KLEE experiment, working as an environmental consultant, and rapidly becoming the state's go-to expert on deer-vehicle collisions (all while raising two super-adorable kids). Despite working as a postdoctoral associate in our group for a tragically short period of time, we often claim credit for her professional success in the company of folks who don’t know any better.

Current position: Director of Science, The Nature Conservancy Wyoming Chapter

Deborah Boro (former MSc student, UNM)

Deborah Boro (former MSc student, UNM)

Deborah worked with Seth Newsome and Jake to understand the causes and consequences of ecological generalism in small mammal communities. As you can see from her photo, Deborah relishes test tubes, beakers, pipettes, and fume hoods--you know, real science. She now works as a data manager for Natural Heritage New Mexico.

Francisco Molina (former MSc student, UW)

Francisco Molina (former MSc student, UW)

Francisco worked with Emiliano Donadio and Jake to understand state-dependent foraging by a large herbivore. He discovered that vicuñas were more apt to forage in risky areas (i.e., those with high puma activity) during periods of food limitation, thus providing evidence in support of McNamara and Houston's starvation-predation hypothesis.

Janet Maclean (former MSc student, UBC)

Janet Maclean (former MSc student, UBC)

Janet Maclean earned her MSc with Jake and Roy Turkington through the University of British Columbia in 2012 and is now a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Janet’s work demonstrated a heretofore unappreciated and (dare we state) pretty darned cool phenomenon: seed and seedling consumption by rodents had effects comparable to those of large ungulates on the demography of a monodominant savanna tree. Chalk one up for the charismatic microfauna!

Jesse Alston (former PhD student, UW)

Jesse Alston (former PhD student, UW)

Jesse Alston jumped head first into a dissertation that was equal parts thermal physiology and macroecology, showcasing an admirable combination of creativity, courage, and insanity in tackling projects well outside our group’s proverbial wheelhouse. Upon completion of his PhD, he worked to become an animal movement whizbanger at the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding in Görlitz, Germany.

During his tenure at UW, Jesse worked tirelessly to raise awareness for several of life’s underappreciated gems, including (but certainly not limited to) Billy Joe Shaver live albums, delicioso homegrown rabbits, and outside trap pull blocks. And we would be remiss to not mention his clutch spotting a P. pardus outside the Aberdare Wandare gate, providing good clean fun for one and all.

Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Arizona

Kat Garrett (former Undergraduate Wyoming Research Scholar, UW)

Kat Garrett (former Undergraduate Wyoming Research Scholar, UW)

Under the expert tutelage of Leo Khasoha, Kat Garrett explored links between the demographics and life histories of small mammals. Kat's spirit animal was (and remains) the rufous elephant shrew, a paragon of a model critter, and cute as the dickens to boot. Kat's research culminated in an award-winning talk at the 2023 International Mammalogical Congress in Anchorage, Alaska. Currently, she's honing her snow machine and backcountry chops as a tech for Lane Jeakle's work on marten in the Medicine Bow National Forest.

Marissa Dyck (former UHURU project manager, Mpala)

Marissa Dyck (former UHURU project manager, Mpala)

Marissa "AKA The Notorious MAD" Dyck was Rhiannon's padowan learner, managing UHURU in 2017. In this photo, she bathes in the radiant charisma of a recently-weaned rufous elephant shrew.

Current position: PhD Student, Ohio University

Megan Dudenhoeffer (former research technician, Mpala).

Megan Dudenhoeffer (former research technician, Mpala).

Megan "AKA Doogie, AKA Olivia Newton John Marianne" Dudenhoeffer worked to characterize seed predators of the invasive prickly-pear cactus in Laikipia. Here, she deftly wrangles a Hinde's bush rat like it was her job. She completed her MSc at the University of Manitoba, studying interactions between red and arctic fox.

Current position: Biological Technician, US Forest Service

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