Nathan Cooper is a Research Ecologist at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. A native Michigander, Nathan grew up playing in the woods and catching frogs in suburban Detroit. The son of two public school science teachers, Nathan has had a lifelong interest in science and nature. He received a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University, a M.S. in Biology from Portland State University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University. He moved to Washington, DC as a predoctoral fellow and after a few years as a postdoctoral fellow was promoted to Research Ecologist in 2020. In his spare time, Cooper enjoys spending time with his family, rock climbing, cycling, dungeons and dragons, landscape photography, and reading science fiction novels.
Keeta Moore is a M.S. student at the University of Georgia. She received her B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife with a minor in sculpture at UGA. Her interest in the outdoors came from childhood summers spent exploring the South African bushveld with her mother, and her specific desire to work with birds came from interning in the avian department at White Oak Conservation Center. For her M.S. Thesis, she is studying the pairing rate of Kirtland’s warblers in order to help build a more accurate population model. When not in school she loves cuddling with her cats, traveling, metalworking, and reading fantasy books.
Katie Galletta is an ecologist fascinated by bird movements and migrations, the technologies we use to track them, and the application of movement research towards habitat and species conservation efforts. Having grown up in the forests and mountains of New Hampshire, she received her B.A. in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology from Bowdoin College in Maine. She is currently a Master's student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Michael Ward, TJ Benson, Nathan Cooper, and Bryant Dossman. Her research focuses on tracking Kirtland’s Warblers using multi-sensor geolocators to better understand their migratory routes and the anthropogenic threats they face along the way. In her free time, Katie serves on the board of trustees for Maine Audubon and enjoys birding, hiking, camping, cooking, reading, quilting, gardening, and barre.
Haley Haradon is a conservation biologist focusing on avifauna as study systems. He received a dual BS/BA in Conservation Biology & Scientific Writing and Education from the Evergreen State College. He currently is a graduate student enrolled in the NRES department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is working on his M.S. Thesis under the direction of Michael Ward, TJ Benson, and Nathan Cooper. Using a network of MOTUS wildlife tracking stations deployed by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center combined with hand-held radio telemetry, he leads a small team to study survival and habit use of adult and juvenile Kirtland’s Warblers across the breeding and post-breeding seasons. When not in Illinois, he enjoys spending long periods birding and camping in wilderness areas. When not at school, he enjoys traveling with his fiancee Laurel or building obstacle courses for their pet rats.
Fernando López is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. He comes from Argentina, where he obtained his Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering degrees (National University of La Pampa) and his PhD in Natural Sciences (National University of La Plata). His curiosity for nature has led him to be involved in different projects related to conservation, but he mostly uses birds to understand nature. At the end of 2022, he moved to Washington DC to begin his post-doctorate, in which he will evaluate non-lethal control techniques for Merlin populations to help a population of endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers. In his free time, he likes to spend time with his family, play sports like soccer, paddle tennis, climbing, or take photos/videos of everything that flies like birds or planes. Also he enjoys cooking for his friends.