Data Analyst in Conservation Genomics

Part-time postdoctoral researcher with the Brzeski Lab at Michigan Technological University.

Black Bear Pedigree Reconstruction

Using 3,000 black bear samples, I constructed a pedigree in order to identify likely parent-offspring pairs. This involved significant data filtering, population genomcs analyses, pedigree reconstruction using the Sequoia Package in R, and sensitivity analyses to validate results. Inferred parent-offspring pairs were used in a Close Kin Mark Recapture model that informed Michigan Department of Natural Resources harvest policy.

SNPhound: an R package for infering individual and species identity from minimal SNP data

Developed an R package for conservation genomics using limited GTSeq data that can match duplicate samples, infer species, and identify admixed samples. Analyzed 1,000 Canid DNA samples from five species to identify ancestry informative markers and validate the efficacy of SNPhound.