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Alumni Profile

Corey Anco (2009)

I graduated with honors from º£½ÇÉçÇø in 2009. While at º£½ÇÉçÇø, I studied under the guidance of Dr. Jerry Kavouras to earn my B.S. in Environmental Science. º£½ÇÉçÇø provided me with opportunities necessary to begin a career in wildlife conservation and management.

During my duration at º£½ÇÉçÇø, I worked for the Forest Preserve District of Kane County and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. These positions allowed me to gain professional experience and skills while applying my academic studies in ecology and resource management.

Upon completion of my undergraduate degree, I enrolled in the Nicholas School of the Environment terminal master’s degree program at Duke University. In May 2011, I earned my Masters of Environmental Management degree and a certificate of geospatial analysis from Duke University concentrating my studies in ecosystem science and conservation.

During the 2010 summer, I worked as a Wildlife Conservationist for Wild South based out of western North Carolina. My work with Wild South consisted of conducting mammal, reptile, bird and fish surveys as part of a cooperative assessment throughout the state of North Carolina. I have also worked as a big cats analyst for the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative from January 2010 to the present.

My specific interests include the application of geospatial analysis techniques to assess international wildlife conservation and management, habitat corridor analysis, species distribution, and human-wildlife mitigation.

Currently, I am seeking funding to support a post-graduate research opportunity with Dr. Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) based in Namibia, Africa. For me this project would launch the beginning of a lifelong career in felid conservation and provide CCF with necessary data and spatial analysis skills to identify priority areas for cheetah conservation and link functionally connected habitats via wildlife corridors. I plan to use data collected with CCF as the foundation in pursuit of my PhD in wildlife conservation.

Dan Anco (2007)

After graduating from Lewis in 2007 (major: Environmental Science) I began graduate school in the Department of Plant Pathology at The Ohio State University under co-advisors Dr. Ellis and Dr. Madden to work on Phomopsis cane and leaf spot of grape. This disease occurs worldwide wherever grapes are grown but becomes more economically important in such temperate regions as those from the Midwest through the Northeast of the US.

In the presence of favorable conditions, Phomopsis cane and leaf spot can reduce yields by 30%. My work has involved transforming the fungus (Phomopsis viticola) with GFP to learn more about how it invades different grape tissues; however, the focus of my research has been on increasing our understanding about the sporulation epidemiology of this system. As such, we've been quantifying seasonal sporulation potential of the fungus on infected canes and rachises and have been modeling sporulation with respect to temperature, wetness duration, and interrupted wetness duration. Results from these studies should increase our ability to predict periods of sporulation and infection in the field and improve our ability to control this disease, which should also result in increased profitability to U.S. grape producers and potentially reduce fungicide use and deposition in the environment.

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