Fall 2019
Summer 2019
Spring 2019
Fall 2018
Spring 2018
Fall 2017
Summer 2017
Spring 2017
Fall 2016
Summer 2016
Spring 2016
Fall 2015
Summer 2015
Spring 2015
Fall 2014
- On November 11, I successfully defended my dissertation!
Summer 2019
- Thanks to an NSF INTERN grant, I am spending three months in Chicago working at the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo, with my friend and colleague Dr. Maureen Murray. I am working on a project about predictors of urban rat complaints.
- I attend the annual Ecology & Evolution of Infectious Diseases meeting, held at Princeton University, where I present a poster: "Modeling joint effects of infectious disease and toxicant exposure in wildlife"
Spring 2019
- I attend the Gordon Research Conference on Movement Ecology of Animals, held in Barga, Italy, where I present a poster: "Individual and environmental predictors of grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) foraging movements in an urban landscape"
Fall 2018
- I am an author on a paper published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases: "Hematology and plasma biochemistry of wild spectacled flying foxes (Pteropus conspicillatus) in Australia." Fun fieldwork with my friends and collaborators Lee McMichael, Dan Edson, and Adam McKeown!
- I am co-first author on our lab's paper, "On the relationship between body condition and parasite infection in wildlife: a review and meta-analysis" published in Ecology Letters. Press release here.
- I am an author on an exciting paper out in Annals of the NYAS! "Changing resource landscapes and spillover of henipaviruses", led by Maureen Kessler.
Spring 2018
- I travel back to Adelaide for possibly my last field season to gather more movement and diet data on the local grey-headed flying foxes.
- Our lab submits a long-in-preparation paper, "What drives relationships between body condition and parasite infection in wildlife? A review and meta-analysis"
Fall 2017
- I am named a National Geographic Explorer, which will provide funding to support my project, "Using GPS technology to assess how resource shifts associated with urbanization affect bat behavior and diet."
- I begin a research assistantship working with Dr. John Drake.
Summer 2017
- I present a talk about seasonal and individual predictors of flying fox foraging movements at the Infectious Diseases of Bats Symposium in Fort Collins, CO.
- I pass my oral prospectus defense and am now considered a PhD candidate both by UGA and the Odum School of Ecology.
- I attend the 4th International Urban Wildlife Conference in San Diego, CA. Thanks to Dr. Maureen Murray for inviting me to present in her session: "Ecology of wildlife diseases in urban areas"
Spring 2017
- I receive research funding from the Explorers Club Atlanta Chapter and the Graduate School (Innovative and Interdisciplinary Research Grant).
- Some of my thoughts are featured in a Science Careers article: How to get the most out of attending conferences.
- I am honored to be awarded the 2017 Golley Memorial Scholarship from the Odum School of Ecology at our annual Spring Fling awards ceremony.
- I win 1st place for my presentation about flying fox movements and implications for disease at the annual scWDA symposium.
- My good friend and cohort-mate, Anya Brown, and I publish a piece in Science (Creating our own community) about our experiences forming and leading WiSci.
- I present my bat movement research at the Berlin Bat Meeting, and get to meet Marc Buentjen from e-obs, the company that makes my GPS loggers.
- Thanks to my ARCS funding, I am able to make another trip to Adelaide to continue my flying fox GPS tracking.
Fall 2016
- I attend the IEEE-WIE Women in STEM Leadership Summit in Atlanta, GA. Great speakers and stories! Congratulations to the summit chair, Dr. Takoi Hamrita in UGA's College of Engineering. Thank you also to the departments and administrative units that funded a group of 20 WiSci students to attend the summit!
Summer 2016
- After initial difficulties, I am able to deploy e-obs GPS loggers on 5 grey-headed flying foxes living in Adelaide, South Australia. Huge thank-you to Dr. Wayne Boardman, who allows me to collaborate with his team. A write-up of the work is here.
- I am awarded an ARCS Foundation fellowship, which will help support my next three years of graduate studies.
- I travel to Australia to fit GPS loggers on flying foxes to better understand their foraging preferences and movements.
Spring 2016
- I pass my written and oral comprehensive exams!
- I win first place at UGA's Wildlife Disease Association student chapter annual symposium for my poster on nutrition and viral prevalence in two species of Australian Pteropus bats. This award also provides some funding for a conference.
- I receive the UGA Graduate Student Diversity Engagement Award for my efforts in leading WiSci over the past two years.
- I receive funding from the Odum School of Ecology and the UGA Graduate School to support summer fieldwork tracking flying foxes with GPS technology.
- I publish my first paper, "Disease risk perception and safety practices: A survey of Australian flying fox rehabilitators," in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases! UGA press release here.
Fall 2015
- WiSci pulls off its first professional development symposium: Mapping Your Path in Science: WiSci Careers in Science. Thank you to all the speakers, workshop facilitators, participants, and volunteers!
Summer 2015
- I attend the annual general meeting of the Australasian Bat Society in Melbourne, Victoria.
- I attend the Wildlife Disease Association international meeting in Maroochydore, QLD. Lots of great bat talks and posters!
- After finishing up with fieldwork, I volunteer at the Tolga Bat Hospital for a week to learn about captive animal handling and nutrition.
- Working with collaborators from CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), I catch spectacled and grey-headed flying foxes in Queensland and New South Wales and collect biological samples for later analysis.
- I help a fellow PhD student, Lee McMichael, to catch spectacled flying foxes in Goldsborough, Queensland, Australia as part of an investigation on cleft palate syndrome.
Spring 2015
- I win 1st place for my presentation on disease risk perception and safety practices among Australian flying fox rehabilitators at UGA's Wildlife Disease Association student chapter annual symposium. This award also provides funds for travel to a conference.
- I am awarded an Innovative and Interdisciplinary Research Grant from UGA to support summer fieldwork.
- I am awarded the 2015 Graduate Diversity Award in Ecology. This award also provides research funds for the 2015-2016 academic year.
- WiSci wins the Outstanding New Organization Award from UGA's Center for Student Organizations.
- I am awarded a grant from the Explorers Club to support summer fieldwork in Australia!
- WiSci receives funding from the UGA Parents and Families Association to support professional development and outreach activities.
- I attend the Ebola Modeling Workshop at Georgia Tech.
Fall 2014
- I attend the 2014 DAIDD (Dynamical Approaches to Infectious Disease Data) clinic held at the University of Florida.
- With several other Ecology students, I form a UGA student group: Women in Science (WiSci). I am the group's president, and my major professor, Dr. Altizer, is our faculty advisor.
- I attend the oSTEM conference in Atlanta and present a poster on some of my research from Australia.
- I move to Athens, GA to begin my PhD with Dr. Sonia Altizer at the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology.
- I receive an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which provides full funding for three years.
© Cecilia Sánchez, 2018. All rights reserved.