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ABBEY WARD - afward@illinois.eduAbbey joined INHS on January 19 as a VisitingScientific Specialist, Field Scientist. She grew up andcurrently live in the Peoria, IL area. Abbey graduatedfrom Augustana College May of 2020 with a degreein Biology and Environmental Studies and a minor inGeography. Her undergrad research focused on theimpact of riparian zones on watershed health.Last summer, she was a Crew Lead on a wetlandrestoration project at Indiana Dunes National Park.Her crew removed invasive species from wetlandhabitats and planted native flora. Abbey also workedat Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory where sheconducted research on local turtle populations,monitored plant species, and surveyed butterflyspecies. She also led volunteer workdays andcollected and processed native seeds.Her experience working with Mighty Earth and GreenAmerica on environmental campaigns exposed her todifferent agricultural practices. Her passion forrestoration stemmed from my research internship atNahant Marsh along the Mississippi River.Outside of work, Abbey enjoy rock climbing, campingthroughout the Midwest with her family, and taking herdogs on long walks.
ALLISON BRYANT - agbryant@illinois.eduAllison Bryant joined INHS in January as a CREP Specialist.Originally from Carmel, Indiana, Allison has recently moved toIllinois for this new position and is based out of Vandalia. Shereceived her B.S. in Biology: Ecology & Environmental in fromMarian University. As an undergraduate Allison worked as anassistant with her university’s nature preserve and worked on severalresearch projects, including a population study on Eastern box turtlesand her senior thesis on measuring stress response in white-tailedptarmigan. Allison also double minored in Spanish and GlobalStudies and was a member of Marian’s honors program with a specialfocus on Shakespeare. In her free time Allison, naturally, enjoysbeing outside—hiking, fishing, and mushroom hunting. She alsoloves to read, write, play the clarinet, and work on arts and crafts.Before coming to INHS, Allison held awide variety of positions in theconservation field. She spent six years as anaturalist at her local nature center whereshe cared for the program critters whileeducating visitors on Indiana flora and fauna.After graduating she worked as a field assistantrestoring sensitive fen and wetland habitat innortheastern Indiana while surveying for Easternmassasaugas and copperbelly water snakes withthe Nature Conservancy. She later traveled toKansas as a wildlife technician working on alesser prairie chicken translocation project withKansas State University. Using radio telemetryshe tracked lesser prairie chicken in the CimarronNational Grassland as well as performed winterhabitat vegetation surveys. Allison continuedworking with this species as a technician withWEST Inc.’s annual lesser prairie chicken rangewide population study. She assisted with surveying for birds from ahelicopter in Kansas, Texas, and New Mexico. Recently she was a field biologist performingpost-construction monitoring on bird and bat species on a wind farm in central Illinois.With her background Allison has been fortunate to gain experience in many different aspects ofconservation—restoration, species monitoring, outreach-and has had extensive practice withinvasive vegetation removal and surveying for threatened/endangered species. Allison is excitedfor the opportunity to work alongside other INHS staff, IDNR,and landowners in an effort to monitor and preserve theKaskaskia River Basin.
ANNE C. HUGHES - annechw@illinois.eduA hardworking, midwestern girl who was born and raised inWaterloo, Iowa, attended high school in Morton, IL, but alwaysoutdoors whether with Girl Scouts, camping, canoeing, hiking, orfishing. Now as an adult living in the Chicago suburbs and the motherof two adult boys, raising them to go camping, kayaking, fishing,herping, hiking and it turns out one is also going to school for azoology degree. Never one to do anything traditional, raised the kidsfirst, then went back to school and found a passion in wildlifeconservation partly from spending every summer growing up,vacationing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.Received an Associates of Science in Biology from College of DuPage,then made many lifelong connections to advisors and classmates,plus a Bachelor's of Science in Zoology from Olivet NazareneUniversity in Bourbonnais, Illinois. During the time at ONU,conducted field many research projects including some in Alaska onmosquitos in the Arctic Circle, in Kankakee on Canada geese, andreceived the Pence Boyce Grant to study the Rusty PatchedBumblebee (Bombus affinis) at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington, IL. After graduatingfrom ONU, went to work at University of Illinois, INHS (Illinois Natural History Survey) under Kelly Estes,with USDA-APHIS & Morton Arboretum, as an Asian Defoliator technician for 2 years, trapping andmonitoring for invasive moth species, spotted lanternfly, and mapping for invasive Tree of Heaven.Entomology was not the chosen path as herpetology was what the plan was, but life has a funny way ofworking out. Anne can spot a Rusty Patched Bumblebee from a mile away, and now has done so in 4states and made 8 unique sightings over 3 years.Anne has been an active volunteer, board member and now VicePresident of the Board of Directors for Friends of Scales andVolunteer Coordinator for the state of Illinois’ only 501-c3 not-forprofit Reptile/amphibian/crocodilian/arachnid only exotic rescuegroup. The group works to take in, rehab and rehome thousands ofunwanted pets over the years, raised awareness through educationand help to ease fears that the public may have of these species allwhile helping to raise awareness of conservation efforts. Wildlifestalker is a fun way to encapsulate the wildlife photography thatkeeps Anne busy in the down time, chasing birds, herps, insects andmammals from coast to coast while camping in state and nationalparks. An avid “Bird Nerd” recording every species seen each year inNorth America is a fun competition to have amongst friends andconstantly getting sidetracked by all the herpetile, insects, andmammals that cross paths withthe birds, makes hiking trips longand terribly slow!
CHRIS MILLER – cmm17@illinois.eduChris Miller works as a Field Scientist at theIllinois Natural History Survey. Focused on theConservation Reserve Enhancement Program(CREP), he monitors conservation easements inCentral Illinois and provides educationaloutreach and advice to landowners regarding theProgram. He was born and raised in Fort Worth,Texas, where his relationship with theenvironment began. Growing up in the Scouts,he spent countless hours outdoors, forming adeep connection with nature and wildlife thatdrove him to pursue a career in conservation.He earned his BSc in Zoology from the Universityof St Andrews, located on the east coast ofScotland. While in University, he focusedprimarily on ecological interactions andconservation, and his undergraduate thesisexamined the skeletal morphometrics of anisolated population of Soay sheep living in the StKilda archipelago.After graduation, Chris returned to Texas, where his career led him to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, a nonprofit entity that cares for over 1,000 animals on its property. He started as an animal care specialist atthe Children’s Animal Center before moving to the education department to serve as a ConservationEducator. During his time at Fossil Rim he cared for the facility’s ambassador animals, gave driving tours,gave educational talks, and performed outreach in the local community. This position sparked Chris’scontinued passion for solving problems of science communication and helping to foster deeperconnections between humans and their environment. He became a Certified Interpretive Guide andafter a brief period as an axe throwing instructor, he joined INHS as a Stream Research Technician in thesummer of 2020. He has been based in Champaign ever since.Outside of work, you can usually find Chris on a hiking trail or trying to invent a new cocktail. He is alover of world languages, history, fantasy literature, and tabletop gaming. He enjoys listening to musicand playing it when he can.
JAKE LUX - jlux@illinois.eduJake Lux, a Visiting Scientific Specialist for the IllinoisNatural History survey, was born and raised inBeardstown, Illinois. He received his bachelor’s degreein zoology with a focus in wildlife biology fromSouthern Illinois University Carbondale in December of2019. As an undergraduate Jake worked on the wingbee project sorting duck wings by species, that weresent in from hunters from the Mississippi flyway.He also spent two summers at Forbes Biological stationhelping with various projects, such as sorting seeds outof Green-winged teal digestive tracts and doing chaindrags searching for nesting ducks. He has been an extrahelp technician for Forbes Biological Station previouslyworking with Wood duck telemetry and also overwaternesting bird searches.In his free time Jake likes to be in the outdoors whetherit be hunting, fishing, or boating on theIllinois river. Jake also loves spending timewith his black lab Taz.
KRISTEN MCGLAUGHLIN-RAGUSA - kragusa@illinois.eduKristen grew up in a rural north central Illinoisfarming community, connecting with hernatural environment from a young age –enjoying the freedom childhood in anagricultural community offers including ridingtractors, feeding calves, and collecting eggs. Herfavorite pastime included fishing and exploringlocal ponds.Her childhood passion for animals naturally ledto a decade long career as a certified animalnurse working in the veterinary field providingcare to beloved pets from across the state whileworking at the University of Illinois’ VeterinaryTeaching Hospital in Champaign, Illinois and at alocal clinic in Decatur, Illinois.Her love for animals continues, however, in2017 she began to explore other outlets forserving animals beyond owned pets and worked to obtain a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from theUniversity of Illinois in 2019. She is currently completing graduate work towards her M.S. in NaturalResources and Environmental Sustainability.Kristen shares her passions for the environment and nature with her spouse, child, and four-leggedcompanions with regular hikes, birding, organic gardening, and conservation and restoration efforts inher home community. She’s an active member of the Decatur Audubon Society, the Macon CountyConservation volunteer team, Friends of Lincoln TrailHomestead, Sustain Our Natural Areas (SONA), andreceived her Master Naturalist Certification in 2019.Combining the skills from her past career as an animalnurse with her new career in conservation she sees ampleopportunities to apply her unique knowledge to fieldexperience, including animal biology, epidemiology,sample collection and laboratory experience, as well asestablished communications and organization skills.
JAKE LUX -jlux@illinois.edu Jake Lux, a Visiting Scientific Specialist for the Illinois Natural History survey, was born and raised in Beardstown, Illinois. He received his bachelor's degree in zoology with a focus in wildlife biology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in December of 2019. As an undergraduate Jake worked on the wing
