About
About me — I am an avian ecologist and conservation biologist, and currently work as a research staff at the Illinois Natural History Survey, with a group of wildlife biologists housed under the umbrella of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. When I'm not in the lab or out looking for birds, you can find me bouldering, Muay Thai-ing, or curled up in my hammock reading Hooten and Hobbs.
Research interests — My interests lie at the intersection of modeling, conservation genomics, and applied ecology. My research focuses on integrating spatial, temporal, and behavioral data to better understand how to conserve declining migratory bird species and woodpeckers. I spend time building bioinformatic pipelines to analyze metagenomics data of wetland birds, and am slowly dipping my toes into using Bayesian modeling in my work. I collaborate with researchers at Audubon Great Lakes, the National Audubon Society, and the University of Illinois.
Contact — I love forming collaborations and periodically hire technicians to help with fieldwork during spring and fall migration. If you would like to work on a project together or be considered for a field technician position, please email me at rahlin1 [at] illinois [dot] edu.