Lab Members
Current Cooper Lab Members
Bradley Allf is a PhD student in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Visit his website.
Bradley’s research centers around studying the outcomes of citizen science, specifically how project participation can effect positive changes in conservation, research, and public engagement in science. Before coming to NC State, Bradley worked at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and as a freelance science writer. Bradley studied biology and creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and edits science poetry for ILT Review. When he’s not writing or researching, you are likely to find him climbing rocks or looking for salamanders.
Murry Burgess is a PhD student in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Visit her website. She is also co-founder of Field Inclusive.
Murry earned her B.S. in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture from Mississippi State University. Her current research focuses on field experiments to understand the life history tradeoffs involved in how developing songbirds overcome the physiological stresses of artificial light at night. Her other research interests include animal behavior and conservation biology. Murry is a children’s book author with a new series, Sparrow Learns, coming soon (with the first Sparrow Learns Birds). In her spare time, Murry enjoys reading, creative writing, bird watching, and her dog Loki.
Dr. Elizabeth Jones is a postdoctoral research scholar. Visit her website.
Elizabeth runs the National Science Foundation research project (“Establishing Norms of Data Ethics in Citizen Science” PI-Cooper). Elizabeth studied History and Philosophy at North Carolina State University, then earned her MA in History and Philosophy of Science at Florida State University and her PhD in Science and Technology Studies at University College London. Elizabeth is working on her first book, Ancient DNA: The History and Celebrity of a Science, under contract with Yale University Press.
Deja Perkins is a PhD student in the Center for Geospatial Analytics program. Visit her website.
Deja’s research focuses on inclusion in citizen science. She investigates racial and economic factors that influence the distribution of volunteer-generated environmental data, barriers to participation, and explores models of public engagement aimed at expanding the beneficiaries of scientific practices.
Lauren Pharr is a PhD student in the Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology program. She is co-supervised by Dr. Chris Moorman. Visit her website. She is also co-founder of Field Inclusive.
Lauren’s dissertation research focuses on the potential links between climate change and increasing brood reduction in Red-cockaded Woodpecker populations. Lauren’s Master’s research in the Cooper lab focused on links between noise and light pollution and songbird survival. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Environmental Biology with a minor in Biology from Wingate University. Lauren’s research at Wingate focused on studying changes in avian harmonics of the Chinese Blue-Breasted Quail (Coturnix chinensis). Lauren enjoys being in nature, loves animals, and her favorite movie of all time is “The Lion King.”
Haley Smith is a PhD student in the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology program.
Haley’s research focuses on how attributes of volunteer participants and third party managers relate to outcomes and impact of citizen science experiences. Haley earned her MS in Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University in 2019 after completing a capstone project developing a community science program for a local watershed restoration organization. Prior to that, Haley served as a full time AmeriCorps member for two years, leading community outreach and education initiatives for a land trust in Asheville, NC, and completed Duke University’s Certificate in Nonprofit Management. When away from the computer, Haley can be found hiking, biking, paddling, or hammocking in nature with her rescue dogs.
Lab Alumni
Sara Futch was a masters student in Lincoln Larson’s and Caren Cooper’s labs. She received her MS in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology with a concentration in Human Dimensions in 2020. She has a BS in Psychology and BA in German from Wofford College. Her research centered around SciStarter, an online citizen science platform, and investigating the current landscape of citizen science projects.
Imani Bell was a master’s student in the Cooper Lab on Crowd the Tap, an EPA-funded citizen science project to inventory water pipe materials across the country. For her thesis, Imani examined the risk of lead-in-tap-water in relation to race and economics, as well as how communities organize to address environmental risks. Imani received her Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of South Florida. Before coming to graduate school, Imani did field work studying rare butterflies.
Maria Sharova received her M.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology after defending her thesis “Next steps in shared management of citizen scientists: understanding project owner perspectives and volunteer connections to science” in 2020. Her research involved learning more about SciStarter participants and project owners to create a community of citizen science. Maria is currently exploring career options in public science program design and implementation.
Brittany Carson (Carson) received her M.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology in 2019 after successfully defending her thesis, “Sense of place in urban neighborhoods and the perception of outdoor sounds.” Her research focused on a citizen science project called Sound Around Town, which assesses the acoustic environment in urban and suburban areas relating to noise pollution and perceptions of sound and noise. Carson is currently an intern at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.
Suzanne Hartley (Suz) received her master’s degree in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology in 2019 after defending her dissertation “Sparrow Swap: testing management strategies for House sparrows and exploring the use of their eggshells for monitoring heavy metal pollution.” Her research focused on Sparrow Swap, a citizen science project aimed at helping bluebirders better manage invasive species and the potential to use invasive house sparrow eggs as bioindicators of environmental contaminants.
Dr. Lisa Lundgren was a postdoctoral researcher in the Cooper Lab that studied Crowd the Tap and SciStarter. On these projects, Lisa researched how people interact within and learn about science in online citizen science environments. Lisa is currently a Postdoc at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education.
Dr. Lundgren is an assistant professor at the Utah State University. Visit her website.
Dr. Chris Hawn is now as Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. They received their PhD from NC State in 2015 and were a Post-Doc in the Cooper Lab.
Dr. Hawn is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Visit their website.
Charmaine Pedrozo graduated from NC State in 2019 with an M.S. in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. She was co-advised by Caren Cooper and Lincoln Larson. Her thesis was titled “Candid Critters and Wildlife Conservation Behaviors: Exploring the Broader Impacts of Citizen Science Participation.
Preparing for kayaking on the Haw River
We spend a lot of time with wild bird eggs that we receive from citizen science volunteers across the US.
 Unpacking… |
 and curating… |
 all behind a glass wall at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences… |
 on the computer… |
 managing data… |
 and designing new citizen science projects! |
And having fun!
 |
 |