Joel

Hmmm, where to start. I love wildlife, both on the dinner plate and to save from extinction. I'd rather be camping in a swamp and swatting malarial mosquitos than staying in a 5-star resort. They say good cooking is the way to a man's heart, but for me if you enjoy catching snakes in your spare time and spew off their latin names I'll begin salivating and propose on the spot. I love the outdoors, the farther from people the better and love going to new places, whether they be in different countries or the same state. I have a fetish for naked mole rats (Heterocephalus glaber) and am not afraid to admit it, nor do I think I'm alone. I finished my MS degree at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in May 2006, working with tortoises (Seed dispersal and the ecological implications of harvesting Geochelone carbonaria and G. denticulata in northwestern Brasil). I started a PhD project in Brazil working with indigenous peoples and wildlife management, the project eventually moved to Guyana, and as of December 2006, I resigned from the project and am now living in St. Petersburg, FL. I'm trying to find a job at the moment, but if nothing pans out soon I'll head to southern CA to survery desert tortoises in the spring. As for long-term plans, I hope to work for a few years and in the meantime develop some ideas and a proposal for a PhD project that is better-suited to me down in South America.