Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Coursework
Affiliations
Accomplishments
Timeline
Generic

Alexa Ouellette

Athens

Summary

Dynamic, young conservation scientist with extensive experience in practice-oriented and basic research in landscape ecology, adept at monitoring and adaptive management, social dimensions of climate resilience, engineering guidance, and land conservation trade-offs. Proven ability to engage stakeholders and lead interdisciplinary teams in spatial conservation prioritization. Skilled in public engagement and outreach, effectively communicating complex information to diverse audiences while driving impactful conservation initiatives.

Overview

6
6
years of professional experience

Work History

Natural Infrastructure Graduate Fellow

University of Georgia
Athens
08.2022 - Current
  • A Master of Science graduate student conducting both practice-oriented and basic research on natural infrastructure methods and engineering guidance, tool development, cost and economic analysis, monitoring and adaptive management, and social dimensions of climate-resilient infrastructure, with an emphasis on the integration of natural and conventional systems.
  • Interdisciplinary project delivery teams with private sector and government partners, who are national leaders in planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of real-world natural infrastructure projects.
  • The thesis focuses on developing a spatial conservation prioritization of coastal freshwater impoundments based on predicted climate impacts and waterfowl habitat value in NC, SC, and GA.
  • Working closely with state and federal land managers, and other stakeholders, to guide future management decisions that trade off vulnerability the vulnerability of habitats against conservation value.

Wildlife Technician

USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point
07.2021 - 07.2022
  • Support mitigation and exclusion strategies that minimize wildlife presence on the ground and in the airspace on and adjacent to active military airfields, ensuring the safety of aircraft and all associated personnel.
  • Develop and implement wildlife and habitat studies that assess potential impacts of climate-induced changes on population dynamics and human-wildlife interactions on the MCAS Cherry Point and associated outlying airfields (MCALF Bogue, MCOLF Oak Grove, and MCOLF Atlantic).
  • Train and educate enlisted service members and civilian contractors on wildlife management program and effort to decrease active wildlife threats. This includes developing education materials, performing briefings, and generating reports that stress the importance of the Marine Corps Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) programs.
  • Deploy and check a wide variety of live-capture wildlife traps to minimize wildlife presence on the airfield. These activities include but are not limited to the handling of various wildlife species, collecting any appropriate disease samples from mammalian species, identification banding raptures, and relocation of wildlife when appropriate.
  • Monitor habitats near and adjacent to the airfields for climate-induced (e.g., nuisance flooding, saltwater intrusion, degradation of salt marsh communities) changes in composition, diversity, and characteristics.
  • Extensive knowledge and experience with Navy and Marine Corps airfield operations, organizational structure, training requirements, and processes and procedures (e.g., base access, range control, etc.).
  • Required to work independently and in multi-disciplinary teams in remote environments, operate a variety of motor vehicles (e.g., 4x4 trucks and four wheelers), work long days under different weather conditions, and be proficient and periodically tested with a variety of fire arms.
  • Support of administrative requirements including data collection, data entry, statistical analyses, basic ESRI based GIS analyses, and report production.

Volunteer Technician

North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission
Various Locations
11.2019 - 07.2020
  • Worked with state bear biologists to trap and survey orphaned yearling American Black Bear cubs for re-release into the wild of several different districts.
  • Supported a team of biologists during trapping of black bears in a state holding enclosure, including recording data from full body assessments, assisting in darting of animals in culvert-style bear traps, moving traps and bears safely and efficiently, and re-baiting traps to reset later in the day.
  • Assisted in Chronic Wasting Disease surveys of white-tailed deer in Duplin County by collecting lymph nodes from harvested animals for later testing.
  • Supported education activities. This included engaging hunters on Chronic Wasting Disease in North Carolina.
  • Responsible for data collection of harvested deer, as well as communicating quickly and clearly with peers under a high frequency of samples to ensure that all data is recorded correctly.

Wildlife Intern

The Nature Conservancy- North Carolina Chapter
Durham
09.2019 - 05.2020
  • Supported a large study that evaluated the reintroduction of native plant vegetation and habitats on solar facilities. Focused on potential benefit on restoration efforts (i.e., piedmont grasslands) on pollinators and to develop guidance for developers.
  • Responsible for reviewing, analyzing, and summarizing camera trap data to determine pollinator and wildlife presence, abundance, and diversity on multiple solar facilities in North Carolina following vegetation restoration efforts. Required to manage and statistically analyze large data sets quickly and independently, providing periodic updates to principle investigators.
  • Statistically analyze and manipulate data quickly and independently, from camera traps and pollinator presence surveys from solar facilities across North Carolina.
  • Actively supporting public outreach, such as created and presented a student research poster for the North Carolina Chapter of The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting (Haw River State Park, NC on 11 February).
  • Responsible for coordinating and communicating with volunteers. This includes processes and procedures for data collection, and resolving issues that might arise.
  • Requires proficiency with multitasking and prioritizing of efforts to meet project milestones.

Intern

Versar Inc.
Newport News
05.2019 - 08.2019
  • Supported Coastal Resilience & Climate Adaptation group researching municipal efforts to plan and assess sea level rise and climate associated vulnerabilities, in hopes to best assist and guide local governments, organizations, and land-owners as threats increase.
  • Used a variety of Federal, State, and Local databases to obtain demographic trends and surveys and biological indices to assess potential sea level rise and storm surge risk and vulnerabilities for several focus areas.
  • Worked with employees to develop presentations (PowerPoint) and other graphics for government briefings, as well as assist in proof-reading outgoing reports and project proposals.

Education

Natural Infrastructure Certificate - Env , Civil, Agriculture, & Mechanical Eng

University of Georgia
GA
05-2025

B.S. - Zoology, Minor in Wildlife Science

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC
05.2021

High School Honors Diploma -

Grafton High School
Yorktown, VA
06.2017

Master of Science - Wildlife Sciences

University of Georgia
GA

Skills

  • Natural infrastructure systems for resilience
  • Public outreach and writing for various audiences
  • Communicating clearly and effectively
  • Working with interdisciplinary teams
  • Learning new skills and information
  • Land conservation
  • Inputting and analyzing data
  • R Studio
  • ArcGIS
  • Stakeholder engagement (federal, state, local)
  • Landscape ecology and wildlife management
  • Data analysis
  • Project management
  • Habitat assessment
  • Environmental research
  • Team collaboration

Coursework

  • Ecology: General and Applied
  • Introduction to Statistic
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Nature-based Infrastructure Engineering and Design
  • Field Experiences in Natural Infrastructure
  • Restoration Ecology
  • Wetland Restoration and Management
  • Structured Decision Making and Adaptive Management
  • GIS Applications for Natural Resources
  • Wildlife Sciences
  • Wildlife Management
  • International Wildlife Management
  • Mammology
  • Introduction to Genetics

Affiliations

  • April 2023- Presentation to Ducks Unlimited National Office Staff
  • February 2024- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources Graduate Student Symposium poster presentation
  • February 2024- Presentation at Ducks Unlimited Staff Conservation Annual Meeting
  • May 2024- Network for Engineering with Nature Symposium poster presentation
  • April 2025- Presentation at International Association for Landscape Ecology
  • May 2025- Association for Ecological Engineers poster presentation
  • June 2025- Presentation at Ducks Unlimited Annual Sponsorship meeting

Accomplishments

  • 2022 - 2025 The Natural Infrastructure Graduate Fellowship. Awarded by Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, University of Georgia and Ducks Unlimited.
  • 2025 Association for Ecological Engineers 3rd Place for Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation

Timeline

Natural Infrastructure Graduate Fellow

University of Georgia
08.2022 - Current

Wildlife Technician

USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
07.2021 - 07.2022

Volunteer Technician

North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission
11.2019 - 07.2020

Wildlife Intern

The Nature Conservancy- North Carolina Chapter
09.2019 - 05.2020

Intern

Versar Inc.
05.2019 - 08.2019

Natural Infrastructure Certificate - Env , Civil, Agriculture, & Mechanical Eng

University of Georgia

B.S. - Zoology, Minor in Wildlife Science

North Carolina State University

High School Honors Diploma -

Grafton High School

Master of Science - Wildlife Sciences

University of Georgia

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Alexa Ouellette