Graduate
Students
Jamie Oskowski
Growing up in the Sacramento Valley of California, I had many opportunities to be involved with fish and wildlife.
I have spent most of my life participating in outdoor recreation activities such as camping, fishing and hunting. I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from California State University, Chico in 2018. About halfway through my undergraduate career, I found that my passion resided with wildlife, specifically waterfowl. I began making the transition in my course work and field experience so that I would be prepared to enter the wildlife field after graduation. Since graduation, I have worked numerous waterfowl technician positions throughout California, Nevada, and Oregon for Federal, State and Private agencies.
I joined the Hagen Lab in the spring in 2021 to begin research on the importance of permanent wetlands for waterbird reproduction in the Klamath Basin. Since then, water management decisions and drought have caused the wetlands in my study area to go dry. My research now focuses on how permanent and semi-permanent wetland vegetation is affected by prolonged drought conditions. This shift in research has opened my eyes to the importance of wetlands on the landscape and peaked my interest in a career working in wetland systems. My goal for obtaining my Master’s Degree is to acquire a position working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working with wetland creation and restoration. In my free time I enjoy traveling, hunting, and fly-fishing.
Miles Scheuering
I grew up in Portland, Oregon, enjoying my time outdoors, particularly my time birding.
Both my parents were involved in wildlife and conservation work while I was growing up, and my spark for working in this field came from participating in sandhill crane surveys every year with my dad. He would pick me up from school on a day in October, and we would drive out to Sturgeon Lake, on Sauvie Island, to count cranes as they flew in to roost. Hearing and seeing the cranes as they flew over really stuck with me and those calls are still one of my favorite things to hear in nature. I started working field jobs while on a gap year after high school and worked in Australia and Eastern Montana. In 2021, I completed a B.S. in Wildlife Biology with a certificate in GIS at the University of Montana. I worked on further field jobs during my time there, on the Farallon Islands and again in Eastern Montana. I was involved in research throughout my time there, culminating in my senior thesis on shrimp farms in the Gulf of California. For that work, I measured the expansion of shrimp farms over the last 30 years, and modeled potential for restoration by quantifying the area of abandoned farms.
I joined the Hagen Lab in 2022 and am pursuing my M.S. in Wildlife Science. My research is looking at the occupancy and abundance of yellow rails in southcentral Oregon, and is using automated recording units (ARU) to understand this. This is an isolated and understudied but declining population. Almost all of their known breeding range lies in the Klamath Basin, an ecologically and sociologically complex and contested landscape. I’m looking forward to gaining a better understanding of their distribution and the drivers of it.
Natia Javakhishvili
Born and raised in Georgia (eastern European country!), the rich biodiversity of the Caucasus Region captivated me from a young age.
This early curiosity laid the foundation for my educational journey, leading me to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in ecology from Tbilisi State University and Ilia State University. My research during this period was focused on the distribution and threats facing the Eastern Imperial Eagle.
Eager to put my knowledge into practice, I joined the Society for Nature Conservation (SABUKO), a partner of Birdlife International in Georgia. Over my five-year period as Executive Director, I developed numerous critical conservation initiatives nationwide, focusing on the protection of locally and internationally threatened species and influencing conservation policies.
My dedication to deepening my understanding of quantitative methods in ecology was recognized in 2021, when I received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the USA. This facilitated my pursuit of another master’s degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Here, my studies concentrated on the efficacy of passive monitoring systems and machine learning acoustic classifiers for monitoring and evaluating elusive forest raptors, such as the Broad-winged Hawk.
Now, as a PhD candidate in Wildlife Sciences at Oregon State University, I combine my interest in wildlife conservation and quantitative ecology by studying the impact of collision reduction technology on avian species near Casper, Wyoming, primarily studying the effectiveness of painted wind turbine blades. My research, in collaboration with leading institutes, involves identifying source populations of bird fatalities and developing demographic models assessing the risks associated with wind energy.
When I am not busy with research, I enjoy birdwatching, swimming, and planning my next travel adventure. My best ideas come often when I am in nature, inspired by the species I have worked so hard to protect.
Becca Kelble
I was born and raised in the great state of Wisconsin where my family instilled in me a passion for wildlife and the great outdoors.
I learned I could pursue a career as a wildlife biologist, much to the dismay of my parents who feared I would be living in their basement until I was 40. In 2015 I received my Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a double major in Wildlife Ecology Research and Management and Biology. Upon graduation, I took short-term employment opportunities as a field technician and traveled across the United States working on various research projects. I started working with mammals, including bobcats in Wisconsin, white-tailed deer in North Dakota, small mammals and rats in Mississippi, and New England and Eastern cottontails in New York, before I entered the world of birds with a position studying greater sage-grouse in Nevada. That last technician position turned into year-round employment when I took on the challenge of project management. For the next 5 years I worked for the US Geological Survey as a wildlife biologist, managing a large-scale greater sage-grouse research program in Nevada and California that collected data at 10-12 field sites and employed 40+ technicians every year. From this experience I realized I wanted to pursue a graduate degree to further my understanding of the scientific process to improve my project management skills and discover additional opportunities in the field of wildlife biology.
I was welcomed into the Hagen Lab at Oregon State University in March 2022. I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree. I am studying a declining population of greater sage-grouse in Central Oregon at the western edge of greater sage-grouse range, investigating possible causes for the decline. These investigations include collecting data on human disturbances, avian predator densities, conifer encroachment, and water availability and comparing these data to greater sage-grouse demographics and habitat-use. The results of this initial 3-year study will be given to local managers to help inform their decisions.
I would like to note that to date, I have not lived at my parent’s house since high school and hope to keep that going until I am at least 41. It is a good motivator to be successful with this career path.
Watch here for opportunities to join the lab!
Want to work with hagen labs?
Email > christian.hagen@oregonstate.edu
Past Grad Students
Tyler Dungannon
MS (2023)
The Role of Trees and Thermal Refugia in Greater Sage-Grouse Brood Habitat Selection. Current position: Oregon Hunters Association, Director of Conservation, Roseburg, OR.
Kim Haab
MS (2023)
The Impacts of Juniper Removal on Native herbaceous Vegetation and Surface Dwelling invertebrates in the Sagebrush Steppe. Current position: US Fish & Wildlife Service Hart/Sheldon Refuge Complex Biologist, Lakeview, OR.
Chelsea Sink
MS (2023)
Greater Sage-Grouse Demographic Rates and Predator Communities in a Degraded Landscape in Modoc County, California. Current position: US Fish & Wildlife Service Biologist, Reno, NV.
Lee Foster
MS (2016)
Demographic and habitat selection response of Greater Sage-Grouse to large-scale wildfire in southeastern Oregon. Currently employed at ODFW as District Biologist, Hines, Oregon.
Andrew Olsen
PhD (2019)
Greater Sage-Grouse Demography, Habitat Selection, and Habitat Connectivity in Relation to Western Juniper and its Management. Currently, employed at Science Implementation Coordinator, Intermountain Joint Venture, Missoula, MT.
Christopher “Digger” Anthony
PhD (2020)
Thermal Ecology and Population Dynamics of Female Greater Sage-Grouse Following Wildfire in the Trout Creek Mountains of OR & NV. Currently, employed at US Fish & Wildlife Service, Fire Management Program, National Monitoring Coordinator, Boise, ID.
Post
Doctoral
Scholars
Keifer titus, Ph.D.
I am originally from Ohio but spent the better part of my childhood in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia. I cut my teeth in the outdoors at a young age hunting, fishing, and trapping with my father.
A large part of my appreciation and respect for wildlife and wild places stem from my experiences as a young outdoorsmen, which ultimately developed into a passion for conservation and lead me to pursue a career in wildlife ecology. I received a B.S. in Biology from Radford University in 2016 where I worked on a variety of taxa including endangered bats, invasive mongoose and crested anole lizards. I went on to obtain M.S. in Biology in 2018 from Ball State University where I studied bat habitat selection in response to timber management as a part of the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment in southern Indiana. I recently completed a PhD in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology at Clemson University where I studied human-wildlife coexistence in the Northern Great Plains of Montana. Following my dissertation, I worked a postdoctoral fellow at Clemson University where my research focused on systematic conservation planning for multi-use forests in the southeast.
II am broadly interested in how direct and indirect anthropogenic disturbances influence how and why animals use the habitats they do. My research aims to employ interdisciplinary tools and techniques to identify important factors that contribute to human-wildlife coexistence while providing resilient solutions to complex wildlife conservation issues. I joined the Hagen lab in 2024 as a postdoctoral scholar and am studying long-term trends in greater sage-grouse population dynamics and habitat selection across the Great Basin. I am working to develop integrated population models that spatially link demographic information with environmental characteristics to guide management and decision making. In my free time I enjoy hunting, fishing, playing guitar, and spending time outdoors with my wife, Kara, and our two kids, Remington and Cora.
Past Post Doc
Carl Lundblad
Post-doctoral scholar (2023)
Modeling sage-grouse productivity as a function of climate and mesic resources. Current position: USGS Research Scientist, Reno, NV.
Elizabeth (Lizz) Schulyer
Post-doctoral scholar (2022)
Modeling annual changes in resource selection of sage-grouse in a post-megafire landscape. Current position, Assistant Professor Paul Smith College, NY.
John Severson
Ph.D. (2016)
Univ. Idaho, Greater Sage-Response to Conifer Encroachment and Removal. Currently, employed at USGS as research scientist, Anchorage, AK.
E-Campus
Students
LeeAnn Harris
I grew up in the Columbia Basin area of Washington and earned my Bachelor’s in Natural Resources from Washington State University.
I am a Professional Science Master’s student in Fisheries and Wildlife and currently reside in Lakeview, Oregon.
I am a wildlife biologist with Bureau of Land Management and a Platoon Sergeant in the Army. Currently, I am involved in wildlife monitoring of Greater Sage-Grouse, pygmy rabbits, and Townsend’s big-eared bat. I am the project lead for the annual bat monitoring within the Lakeview Resource Area. I also conduct surveys for Columbia spotted frog.
My goal for this program is to enhance my knowledge and skills within wildlife biology. My program entails implementing the Lakeview Resource Area bat-monitoring program. I am focusing on bat populations and occupancy as well as surveillance of white-nose syndrome. When I have time, I enjoy camping, hiking, bird watching, kayaking, backpacking, snowshoeing, and snowboarding.
Past E-Students
Anne Hong
PSMFWA (2022)
Assessment of American Woodcock Singing-Ground Survey Timing in Pennsylvania, USA. Current position,
Shaun Ziegler
PSMFWA (2022)
Prescribed Fire Strategy for Central Pine Barrens of Long Island, NY. Current position US Fish & Wildlife Service, Project Leader, Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
Melina Frezados
PSMFWA (2020)
Heavy Metal Contamination Within Endemic Wetland Avian Guilds In The Forest Preserves Of Cook County, Il. Current position Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois Resource Management Department, Wildlife Technician, Chicago, Il.
Laura Shick
PSMFWA (2017)
An Environmental Assessment for Upper Muddy and Webb Draw Pasture Allotments, WY: as it pertains to amphibians of conservation concern. Currently, employed as biologist for private firm.