1. What do you study related to biodiversity (what are your research questions, what organisms do you work on)?
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 My research focuses on insects, the most diverse group of animals on Earth. Although I am interested in a variety of insect groups, most of my primary work centers on moths and butterflies (Order Lepidoptera), which collectively comprise roughly 150,000 described species. I am especially interested in the evolution of host plant associations and caterpillar behaviors of owlet moths, the largest lepidopteran family with over 40,000 described species. However, I am also keenly interested in the conservation of terrestrial insects, particularly moths associated with pine barrens, prairies, and related communities in North America.
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2. How do you study biodiversity (for example, what technological tools and methodologies do you use in your research)?
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My research has three primary foci: I use molecular and morphological techniques to delineate and decipher the relationships among species; I use quantitative ecological methods to understand the life histories of insects; and I study the theoretical and philosophical basis of conservation biology, land management, and priority-setting.
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3. Where do you study biodiversity?
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In North America, my research focuses on insects associated with sandplain habitats, prairies, and grass-dominated ecosystems in the eastern United States. The moths I study also occur in Europe and Asia, and I have conducted fieldwork in Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia, and Australia.
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4. How might your research have implications for biological conservation?
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My research bears directly on questions of how to protect and manage natural areas from barrier beaches to prairies, and how to ensure conservation management in species-specific questions appropriate to the larger picture.
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5. How did you become interested in science? What made you want to be a scientist, and how did you get to The Field Museum?
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 I was attracted to natural history as a young child, and began collecting moths at the age of 8. While teaching natural history programs throughout high school and college, I worked to document threatened species in New England, particularly Massachusetts, and participated in many conservation projects, including the protection of several thousand acres of coastal sandplain, pine barrens, and calcareous fens. I came to the Field Museum immediately after completing my PhD at the University of Connecticut and the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where I studied conservation genetics and the molecular systematics of threatened moths.
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6. Describe important collaborations for your scientific endeavors (describe your work with other researchers, organizations, or scientific groups, local or indigenous peoples, etc.)
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I routinely collaborate with other academics but also with conservationists at various state, federal, and private conservation agencies. Many of my collaborations involve the protection and management of threatened or endangered species, but I also work closely with land managers interested in managing conservation land in scientifically sophisticated ways. I have been a board member on land trusts, and founded and chaired the property management committee of the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation, a non-profit land trust in Massachusetts.
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