I grew up fishing and camping among the prairie pothole lakes of northeastern South Dakota and completed my B.Sc. (1998) and M.Sc. (2002) at Montana State University, surrounded by wild spaces and trout. While Montana cultivated a keen interest in ecology, my experiences studying bison population dynamics motivated me to build a broader quantitative background. I migrated north to the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Alberta, where I completed my Ph.D. (2008). As a postdoctoral fellow and a research assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, our workgroup developed an environmental DNA surveillance program for invasive species, most notably Bighead and Silver Asian Carp. As an Associate Researcher at UCSB’s Marine Science Institute, my research program emphasizes using novel quantitative, data science, and sampling approaches to address pressing environmental problems and ecological theory.