My tattoo & dedication to lorises
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In 2011, I joined the department of Anthropology at the University of Missouri. My supervisor is Dr Gregory Blomquist. My PhD research will focus on the morphological and genetic diversity observed within the family Lorisidae (Arctocebus, Perodicticus, Loris, Nycticebus). Prior to attending Mizzou, I was a graduate student abroad.
I earned my Master of Philosophy in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University in the Spring of 2010. As my advisor, Dr Anna Nekaris encouraged a broad project that investigated the abundance and diversity of Southeast Asia's nocturnal primates. For my thesis, I researched the abundance of Bornean tarsiers (Tarsius bancanus borneanus) and Bornean slow lorises (Nycticebus menagensis) at the Danau Girang Field Center in the Lower Kinabatangan Floodplain, Sabah Malaysia Borneo. Additionally, my thesis explored the observable diversity of Bornean slow lorises. I examined facial mask differences of Bornean slow loris museum specimens and photographs. The studied lorises were assigned to known geographic regions in Borneo, due to major barriers that are suspected to affect speciation. Also, lorises were clustered into similar facemask patterns. Geographic and facemask analyses resulted in the recognition of one species (Nycticebus kayan), and the uplisting of two more species (N. borneanus and N. bancanus). Now there is a grand total of four species of lorises on Borneo (don't forget about the original N. menagensis), and eight species throughout Southeast Asia. But Southern Illinois-Carbondale was where my anthropological and primate interests started. I graduated with my Bachelors in Anthropology from SIUC, under the guidance of Dr Susan Ford. SIUC was where I first learned about nocturnal primates. Southern Illinois also facilitated my love of hiking because of all the beautiful state parks that surround it, and my love of wine as it has a great wine trail. |
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