The Team

Kaera, aka the little menace, continues to be involved in upcoming field projects. She completed her masters degree at Kansas University where she studied social networks in lizard populations. She is currently writing up the manuscripts from this work while eating delicious food and deciding what her next steps will be. 

Carina is a Ph.D. student based at Oregon State University. Her work focuses on combining remote-sensing approaches, field data, and expert opinion to determine how different management actions might impact breeding seabirds. Outside of research, Carina loves spending time with her dogs and family and friends, surfing, painting, and running (very slowly)! 

Janine Klein is a primatologist doing her PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara, but her first love will always be lizards. She is interested in the ecological and social contexts in which individual variation in behavior arises, and what this means for different animals in a rapidly changing world.

Cydney completed her masters degree at the University of Idaho where she studied the effects of irrigated agriculture on selenium concentrations and nesting success in an endangered marsh bird at the Salton Sea in Southeastern California. She also has a keen interest in understanding lizard social structures and movement patterns. Cydney's research with the Erell Institute includes the study of long-nosed leopard lizards and western whiptails, where she helped analyze social interactions and ecological dynamics in the Alvord Desert, Oregon.

Biologist focused on lizard behavior, particularly their cognition. Currently working on elucidating the role of a native lizard as a natural pest controller in greenhouses. 

As for hobbies, I love movies and music.

Dahtiya Stanley is a sophomore at Haskell Indian Nations University, majoring in environmental science. She is working with the Lizard Task Force on the interactions between introduced and native lizard species. 

Maliya is a senior at Lawrence High School where she manages the girls’ basketball team. She is planning a project with the Lizard Task Force examining personality in lizards (i.e., behavioral syndromes). This fall, she will be applying to colleges where she hopes to study biology. Her hobbies include nature walks and drawing. She also has experience as a professional fireworks target!

Alicia Pham is a sophomore at the University of Kansas where she currently studies ecology & evolutionary biology and geology. When she isn’t working with the Lizard Task Force to save the world, she can be found reading, weightlifting, or playing video games. 

Maddox is a senior at the University of Kansas studying neurobiology and behavior in the Psychology Department. She loves reptiles, and enjoys hiking and rock climbing, as well as woodworking, crocheting, and metalworking to make jewelry.

Javaria is a freshman at the University of Kansas, majoring in environmental studies and geology. She is looking forward gaining experience in field biology and ecological research.

Nathan is an MBA and Computer Science student from the University of Kansas. After graduating from KU, he is now working for a local Kansas City distributor with a focus in infrastrucutre, technical business architecture, data management, and technical business transformation.

He works with Erell in managing and maintaining this website, and with the overall tech stack used by the team.