About Us
Mrinalini Watsa is a graduate student in the Anthropology Department at Washington University in Saint Louis. She is an Indian citizen who moved to America to pursue an undergraduate course of study at Grinnell College in Iowa from which she earned her B.A. in biology. However, after interning at the Southwest National Primate Research Center as well as the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, she went on to acquire an M.A. in Physical Anthropology from Washington University in Saint Louis. Today, she is a doctoral candidate at the same institution and her research centers around primate genetics, behavior and reproduction.
Gideon Erkenswick - Project Administrator and Field Supervisor
Gideon Erkenswick is a native to Chicago, IL. He grew up in Evanston, and attended Willard Elementary School, Haven Middle School, and Evanston Township High School. In 2006, Gideon graduated from Grinnell College where he majored in sociology and captained the Men's Varsity Soccer team.
Since then Gideon has worked in a variety of different capacities but always serves the communities in which he lives. His past occupations range from bilingual English-Spanish community builder to fund raiser for a handful of nonprofit organizations. Eventually he sees his life's work revolving around the nonprofit sector, but is in no rush to narrow down his options.
He is very excited to be trying his hand at wildlife research and conservation.
Karina Klonoski - Research Assistant
Karina Klonoski graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine in 2009, where she majored in biology and minored in anthropology. In the fall of her junior year, she studied conservation biology while abroad at the University of Otago in New Zealand. During her time at Bowdoin, she has focused on evolutionary biology, conducting research on the genetics of human follicle mites. She also spent time at UCLA investigating the evolutionary adaptation of Pacific tree frog tadpoles to an invasive predator. Karina is ultimately interested in a career in biological research, specifically within the field of behavioral ecology. She is an avid hiker, runner and writer.
Erin Kane - Research Assistant
Erin Kane will be graduating from Washington University in St. Louis in December 2009 with a B.A. in anthropology and environmental studies. Erin is particularly interested in primate conservation and sustainable development, and figuring out a way to combine the two. She would like to complete a Ph.D in anthropology and end up doing primate conservation work somewhere in Central Africa. If Erin is not watching monkeys at the St. Louis Zoo or cleaning fossils, she is probably swing dancing. She spent the summer of 2008 in Kenya studying Swahili and volunteering on the Mombasa coast, and will be back in Kenya for the summer of 2009 working on a paleontology dig in West Turkana. She is excited to be joining Primates Peru in the field in January!
Rhea K. Mac - Research Assistant
Rhea K. Mac graduated with a B.A. in biology from California State University Northridge. She is interested in pursuing her M.A. and PhD. in biological anthropology. She wants to study primate evolution on behavioural and genetic levels, and is getting more experience in the field before starting her graduate studies. She discovered her passion for primatology while in the Ecuadorian Amazon for a tropical ecology semester. Rhea is very excited to discover a new part of the Amazon and work with Primates Peru. Her long term goals include being a researcher and a professor. Along with biology, Rhea enjoys wakeboarding, exploring nature, spending time with her family and friends, and dancing to the music on her ipod.
Emma Katherine Wallace - Research Assistant
Emma Wallace graduated from Cambridge University, England, in 2009 with a degree in Biological Anthropology, specialising in primatology. In the summer of 2008 she spent a month researching hand preference in mantled howler monkeys on Nicaragua's Isla de Ometepe. She hopes to undertake a masters in Primatology in London and eventually work with captive primates, focusing on improving behavioural enrichment. Emma is a keen singer so will almost certainly be heard singing around camp when she joins PrimatesPeru in January!
