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Montana Chapter Board of Directors

The following volunteers make up the board of directors of the Montana Chapter.

Kellie Carim

Kellie Carim has served on the board of the Montana Chapter for the Society for Conservation Biology since 2012. She received her B.A. in Biology from Carleton College in 2006, and Ph.D. in Fish and Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana in 2013. She currently works as an Aquatic Research Biologist at the National Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation in Missoula, Montana. Her research focuses on using genetic tools and information to inform conservation and management of freshwater species in North America. She enjoys chillin' with her puppy dog, cross country ski racing, mountain biking, and dad jokes.  

 

Dan Bachen

Dan Bachen is the Senior Zoologist for the Montana Natural Heritage Program. His work focuses on acquiring and disseminating distribution, life history, and status information of Montana’s animal species. Over his career he's had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of taxa from charismatic megafauna like elk and grizzly bears to charismatic microfauna such as bats and terrestrial small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other nongame species.  He has been involved with the Montana Chapter of SCB since 2012 and has served on the Board since 2014.  

 

 

Jessie Golding

Jessie Golding is a Carnivore Research Associate at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Montana. She received her B.A. in Biology and Environmental Science from University of California, Berkeley in 2007, and M.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana in 2015. She currently is developing a long-term, multispecies forest carnivore monitoring strategy, focused on fisher, lynx, and wolverine, with the US Forest Service for the US Rocky Mountain region. She enjoys her two cats, hiking, camping, and cute things. She has served on the board of the Montana Chapter for the Society for Conservation Biology since 2014.

 

 

 

Jenny Helm

Jenny Helm is a graduate student in the University of Montana’s Wildlife Biology Program, where she researches developing quantitative tools to inform wildlife conservation and management decisions. While conducting field research in Namibia, Jenny found that human-wildlife interaction was the particular lens through which she felt most inspired to engage in conservation biology, and this interest was reinforced during a field season spent studying seabird abundance and distribution around the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. She received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Colby College. Currently, she collaborates with the National Park Service to study the predictability of humpback whale behavior as ships encounter and navigate through aggregations of whales in southeast Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park.

 

Brit Garner

Brit Garner is a PhD student in wildlife biology at the University of Montana. A native Floridian, Brit has an academic background in conservation genetics and marine biology, but has recently expanded her research to include Big Data analytics for conserving global biodiversity. Some examples of these applications include using machine learning algorithms and text mining to find patterns in IUCN Red List decisions and using data visualizations to provide managers with prioritization schemata. In her free time, Brit enjoys performing in musical theatre as well as engaging in science communication, in particular by hosting SciShow Psych, a science education channel on YouTube.

 

 

Adam Sepulveda

Adam Sepulveda is a research zoologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Bozeman (2010 – present). His research focuses on developing and validating early detection, monitoring and control strategies for aquatic invasive and nonnative species in the West. Current projects include prioritization and early detection strategies for zebra and quagga mussels in the Columbia River Basin, smallmouth bass spread in the Yellowstone River, fish proliferative kidney disease incidence and prevalence in Montana, and Northern pike impacts and control in southcentral Alaska. Adam did his PhD and postdoc at the University of Montana, Missoula. He is married to Shannon McCarthy Sepulveda (physical therapist) and has two kids, Whit and Bailey.