Research
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 obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College in 2006. Since then he has worked with several nonprofit organizations in the fields of public health, capacity building, education, and now wildlife research and conservation.
Gideon was co-founder of PrimatesPeru in January of 2009, and continues to assist the project as an administrator and field supervisor. He currently aspires to gain more experience working directly with animals, perhaps even returning to school for a degree in Wildlife Veterinary Technology. In this way, he will better combine his interest in wildlife research and conservation with nonprofit organization.
Karina Klonoski - Field 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 focused on evolutionary biology, completing an independent study 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 ecology and evolutionary biology, and is enjoying this opportunity to get more field experience before beginning a graduate program. She is an avid hiker, runner and writer.
Erin Kane - Field Research Assistant
Erin Kane graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in December 2009 with a B.A. in anthropology and environmental studies, and an additional concentration in African studies. Erin is particularly interested in combining primate conservation and sustainable development in Central and East Africa. Erin's first field experience came as a member of the crew on a paleontology expedition in the Kenyan desert of West Turkana during the summer of 2009. Working as a field assistant in the Amazon has challenged her desert adaptations, but seeing three species of monkeys every day before six in the morning never gets old! When Erin returns to the United States, she plans to swing dance non-stop until beginning a graduate program in physical anthropology at Ohio State University in the fall.
Rhea K. Mac - Field Research Assistant Alumnus
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 - Field 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!
Holly McCready - Field Research Assistant
Holly McCready is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She began her studies there as a biology major but took one anthropology class and was hooked. She graduated in 2007 with a BS in biology and a BA in anthropology. Her interests are varied: she has worked as an HIV educator in Tanzania and as a technician studying honey bee pollination in California. She spent a year working on a bat conservation project in Pennsylvania and is currently volunteering for a cat spay/neuter program in Portland. She hopes to return to graduate school next year and pursue an anthropology degree in primate behavioral physiology.
Deidre Halloran - Field Research Assistant
Deirdre is a senior at Boston University where she is working towards a BS in Biology and a BA in religion with a concentration in Eastern Traditions. She is the president of BU's Dance Theatre Group, is an active member of the pre-vet society there, and spends her weekends volunteering at the Franklin Park Zoo. Her travel bug hit after living in France for 3 years and was solidified after a four-month trip to India where she completed an anthropological independent study on lay women's support of Buddhism. After she graduates, Deirdre hopes to attend vet school where she will specialize in wildlife medicine. She loves to spend her spare time dancing, reading, rock climbing (a new and terrifying interest), and being home with her family and pets.
Mary Dinsmore - Field Research Assistant
Mary Dinsmore graduated from the University of Portland in 2009 where she received a B.S. in Environmental Science and a B.A. in Political Science. Her love of animals, conservation, and ethology grew after studying abroad in Broome, Western Australia as well as Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. In the summer of 2009 she worked as a research assistant studying endocrinology and the behavioral growth and development of an Asian Elephant calf at the Oregon Zoo. She continued working with animals in the Fall of 2009 when she interned at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. After expanding her knowledge of primates and field research techniques with the Primates Peru team she hopes to go to graduate school and one day conduct research on the social behavior and conservation of lemurs. Besides learning new facts about animals, Mary loves to cycle, dance, scuba dive, and eat lots of Mexican food.
David Lefebvre - Field Research Assistant
David is studying biological engineering at the Institut Superier Industriel Agronomique in Huy City, Belgium. He is originally from the city of Louvain, which is near to Namur. David is interested in studying the various relationships between trees and epiphytes. He arrived in Peru at the end of May 2010, and has been volunteering his time to ongoing research projects at several field stations, including CICRA (tropical floodplains) and Wayqecha (cloud forest). In mid-July he decided to join the PrimatesPeru team until he flies home in mid-August.
