Welcome to Jennifer Feltner, Cindy Tsai, and Stephen Crook, our three new PhD students.

Jennifer Feltner is originally from Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Chinese language and literature in 2001. Jennifer spent several years working in international relations and non-profit management before making a career shift to wildlife and conservation ecology. She completed post-bac coursework in wildlife biology at Colorado State University in 2012 and recently left the Mammals Research Program at Colorado Parks and Wildlife in Fort Collins CO where she worked as a research and field technician for two years. She is excited to combine her previous professional background with her new expertise in mammal ecology as she studies monkey ecology and human interactions in FNNR with the CNH project.

Cindy Tsai is from Taipei, Taiwan, and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Geography from National Taiwan University. She arrived in San Diego in 2009 and began working on GIS and remote sensing projects with Professor Douglas Stow and Professor Emeritus John R. Weeks. She worked locally for some time on mapping issues ranging from vegetation monitoring to border patrol. Cindy is refocusing on environmental issues and Land Use/Land Cover Change with the Golden Monkey Project.

Stephen Crook is from Santa Cruz, California, and graduated from UCLA in 2008. He received his Master’s degree with distinction in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management from Oxford University in 2012. Stephen spent time both teaching and planning course curricula in Spain and across California, including programs for at-risk youth in San Diego. He plans to continue analysis of complexity in China’s Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve Payment for Ecosystem Services program. Steve is an enthusiastic outdoorsman, and enjoys hiking, surfing, or just being in nature.