Student Profile
Briana Witteveen
Briana Witteveen, now a Postdoctoral Researcher in Kodiak, Alaska, was the first graduate of the UCF Conservation Biology PhD program. She examined the foraging ecology of large whales in the Gulf of Alaska for her dissertation. Witteveen is grateful that her adviser, Graham Worthy, PhD, welcomed her into his lab. “Dr. Worthy is a well respected researcher in my field and I consider myself very lucky to have him as an adviser and mentor,” she shares. Witteveen also enjoyed the enthusiasm of her fellow students and says, “The students and projects in the program were incredibly diverse, which made for fantastic opportunities for discussions and expansion of knowledge.”
Edem Ekpe
Edem Ekpe, a student in the Applied Conservation Biology track of the Conservation Biology PhD program, has always had a passion for science and he feels that his program at UCF has been excellent. “My department really encourages students to take classes outside of the department. By taking classes in Sociology and Economics, I feel that I will have the necessary skills to do interdisciplinary research on conservation incentives better,” he shares.
Mary Beth Manjerovic
After receiving her master’s degree in Wildlife Management, Mary Beth Manjerovic was accepted into the inaugural class of the Conservation Biology PhD program in 2004. Her research, working with Jane Waterman, PhD, has taken her across the globe to southern Africa where she spent 2 years studying the Cape ground squirrel. “My primary goal is to link male mating behaviors to paternity while further exploring overall population structure. What I am finding, however, is that the more I discover, the more questions I am left with and because of that, my research explores a variety of topics from dispersal to immunology.” Manjerovic hopes to continue research combining field and molecular techniques to manage natural populations.
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