I am a Philadelphia native born to immigrant parents from the beautiful island nation of Barbados.  I earned both of my degrees from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and have spent most of my research life in the beautiful Chiricahua Mountains of Southeastern Arizona.  After I joined the Temple University faculty full-time, I started to develop some local lines of research here in Pennsylvania. 

 

There are so many questions for us to answer in the universe and right now I am interested in what Animal Behavior and Ecology can tell us about how organisms might whether the storms of global climate change and human development. 

 

My research focuses on Behavioral Ecology, Population and Community-level dynamics, and Herpetology. I run a long-term study of the population dynamics of Spiny lizards (Genus: Sceloporus) in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. My colleagues and I have been studying how climate, drought, and fire have impacted the population over the past 4 decades. I also study the behaviors and behavioral responses of S. jarrovii, S. virgatus, S. clarikii, and Urosaurus ornatus to phenomena like tail loss (caudal autotomy), drought, and forest fires.

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My teaching goals are to help student engage in hands on biology and find passion and meaning in their academic pursuits. I lecture in Animal Behavior, Field Research in Community Ecology, Biostatistics, and Conservation Biology and work with student in Organismal Biology recitations, Mammalian Anatomy labs and First Year Seminars. My lectures incorporate experiential learning through discussion and hands-on activities.

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I have been extremely lucky to find the amazing students teach and that I work with in this lab.  My lab students in particular are such great colleagues and such great fun.  I hope you get to meet some of them, or if you're in the Philly area or southern Arizona, maybe you be interested in seeing what we do first hand.  If so, use the contact button and let me know.  I'm always happy to meet new people.