As the Senior GIS Analyst, Laura plays a key role in CCI by analyzing complex datasets related to the broad landscapes that support North American wildlife and their habitats.

Prior to joining Defenders, Laura had postdoctoral research appointments with Brown University and University of Wisconsin - Madison. Laura’s research background includes analyzing speciation processes in reptiles of Madagascar, predicting changes in habitat suitability of federally listed plants and estimating abundance and occupancy models for grassland birds and bumblebees using field-surveys, museum and herbaria collections, and citizen/community-science datasets. In her free time, Laura is most likely playing soccer, practicing her bird-watching skills or at the cinema with a bag of popcorn.