Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I grew up in a little town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I loved looking for snakes and lizards under rocks and watching nature documentaries about tropical animals. The Dr. Dolittle books were a big inspiration. I thought if I could talk to animals I could understand their secret lives. Around 12 or so, I got really into music, and I ended up playing in a band all through high school. After graduation, I went to UC San Diego where I majored in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution. As it happened, UCSD employed two of the top Animal Communication scientists. I learned everything I could from them. In my second year, I attended a tropical ecology course in Costa Rica. The rainforest was everything I had dreamed it could be. I had found my calling. I got into a PhD program and went to Panama to study duet-singing birds in the jungle. That project hit all the right notes: music, animal communication and tropical forests.
I was looking for a job after grad school when I came across an ad to study cricket calls in Lethbridge, Alberta. I had never heard of Lethbridge, and I didn’t know anything about crickets, but I needed a job! I grew to love the town and the university, and I married a local artist named April Matisz. Eventually, I took a job as a professor at the University of Puerto Rico. April and I spent five years on the island. I found new birds to study, surfed and grew a tropical garden. Our family grew, too.
How long have you been at ULethbridge, and what do you do here?
We came back to Lethbridge in 2015, when I got a position in the Department of Psychology. I teach classes on academic skills, animal behaviour, animal communication, science communication, and the psychology of judgement and decision making. I still study how tropical birds communicate with songs. My students and I go to Puerto Rico to study wild birds. We give talks at conferences and write papers about our findings. I am on the cusp of fulfilling my life-long dream of making my own nature documentary! The third part of my job is called “service.” That entails a lot of boring meetings, but also some interesting bits, like chairing the department and starting a new program in Data Science.
What's the best part of your job?
When it comes to research, my favourite part is discovery. Whether I’m sitting in the forest or in front of computer screen, there is nothing like the feeling of learning something that no one has ever known before. That’s what keeps me hungry. The travel is a nice perk too! In the last five years, I have travelled to Oregon, Ontario, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Poland for work. My whole family is headed to Japan in just a few weeks.
In the classroom, I love the challenge of catching and holding the class’s attention (shout out to students who nod along in class). I’m especially invested in the students who conduct research in my lab. It’s really fulfilling to see them grow as scientists.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
These days, I like to cook, exercise, and spend time outside. I meditate, practice a little music, read, play video games or watch anime with my kids, and hang out with my friends and family.