Emily grew up in Wasilla, Alaska, and developed a fascination with animal behavior from a young age. In high school, she trained poodles and collies for dog shows and worked closely with her sister’s service dog, Zinger, as well as her own dog, Chinook. Initially, Emily planned to study wolf behavior through APU’s Environmental Sciences program. However, she later decided against it, recognizing that her background with domestic dogs might bias her research.

During her freshman year at APU in the Marine and Environmental Science program, she came across an opportunity to work with the USGS on caribou research. She has held that position ever since and will now continue her studies in the Department of Biology and Wildlife at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Medical Advocacy

Emily’s sister lives with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), so every year Emily travels to Washington, DC to advocate for medical research. Medical advocacy and raising awareness about TSC is clearly a very important part of Emily’s life. Anyone looking to learn more about TSC and how they can become involved in medical advocacy, can look to the TSC Alliance: Pacific Northwest Community Region for upcoming events, resources, and ways to donateEmily is one of two Government Action Leads for the region and encourages anyone interested in medical advocacy to reach out and get involved.

Life at APU

During her time at APU, Emily has been an active member of several campus groups, including the pottery club, dive club, student government, tabletop gaming club, Nordic ski club, and alpine club. She currently serves as president of the hiking club. She also co-founded an informal club with friends dedicated to watching terrible movies. For those interested in this lesser-known genre, Emily recommends The VelociPastor, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Gingerdead Man, and Rubber – a horror movie about a homicidal car tire.

Emily also teaches dock diving to dogs in Palmer during the summer months, with Chinook by her side.

Senior Project in Rangifer Research

Emily’s favorite part of her current caribou (rangifer) research with USGS is her work with the video collar program. “We see a lot of calves and I really enjoy seeing them,” she says. “I enjoy just seeing what they are doing. I feel like I am pretending to be a caribou a lot of the time. The video collars are just on them recording constantly so it’s like I am just being a caribou for four hours of my day.“ She reflects on the mindset required for this kind of research, “You have to turn your brain off because caribou aren’t going to be thinking super in depth about things. It’s just—you’re eating, and now you’re lying down. It’s very simple to think about but complex at the same time in a lot of ways.” Emily’s love of animal behavior, along with her commitment to approaching research without personal bias, shines through in her work.

Graduate School at UAF

Emily’s graduate research at UAF will build on aspects of her senior project at APU. For her senior project, she analyzed existing models used to study caribou calving events and found them to be unreliable. Her graduate studies at UAF’s Northern Movement and Animal Dynamics (NOMAD) lab will involve entering weather, shrubification, temperature, and insect harassment data into these caribou calving models to produce more reliable results. Developing reliable calving models is crucial for understanding caribou herd migration, behavior, and health.