Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Science in zoology with honors at Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in biological sciences at Binghamton University, studying social learning behavior in wild American crows. She began teaching at the college level the final semester of her undergraduate years and continued to teach labs, develop courses, volunteer for outreach, and contribute to educational material throughout graduate school. She then transitioned to teaching in secondary education, spending five years teaching science at STEM School Highlands Ranch, where she took students to scientific conferences.
Jennifer has extensive experience working with wildlife in the field, having studied and participated in research involving honeybees, horned lizards, mountain lions, bighorn sheep, sharp-tailed grouse, and of course, crows, including the critically endangered aga (Mariana crow). She also has a passion for museum science, volunteering at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates at the Lab of Ornithology, curating the teaching collection at Binghamton University, and is currently a Research Associate at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Outside of work, Jennifer has a collection of eccentric hobbies including falconry, traditional archery, taxidermy, collecting natural history items, and specimen preparation. Her more average hobbies include illustration, sculpture, photography, gaming (board, tabletop, and video), horseback riding, and exploring new places locally and around the world.
