Matt Rahn has a broad background in field biology and the conservation of wildlife throughout various ecosystems. He has experience in the design of wildlife, habitat, and ecosystem monitoring programs, with an emphasis on the identification of invasive species, the impacts on threatened or endangered species, and the development of appropriate management and mitigation programs.

Matt has participated in various habitat and vegetation restoration programs, sensitive species relocation, wetland restoration, and habitat enhancement projects. He developed restoration monitoring programs to assess cover and diversity, plant survival, herbivory, and studies of wildlife use using a variety of GIS and statistical analysis methods.

In addition to his expertise in conservation biology, Matt Rahn conducted research in collaboration with environmental lawyers and ecologists on the design, implementation, and evaluation of multi-species habitat conservation plans. He supports various conservation biology groups through his knowledge of various state and federal environmental laws, having spent two years studying and working in collaboration with faculty at the UC Davis School of Law, evaluating the Endangered Species Act and various aspects of conservation planning including the selection of covered species, the implications of invasive species, monitoring, and disaster planning.

Pablo is responsible for technological and remote connectivity support of field research activities. He works as a facilitator and coordinator for scientists, faculty, staff, and graduate students who do research at the Field Stations and also provides logistic coordination and purchasing for information technology related projects. He is involved with the designing, implementing, and maintaining of equipment related to information technology for the Field Stations. Pablo received his BS in Biology here at San Diego State University. Pablo lives to ride!

John manages the ecological data that flows in and out of our reserves. He creates database programs to store, document, distribute, and facilitate the use of ecological data by researchers.

John has a B.A. in Computer Science from UCSD and a Ph.D. in ecological modelling at University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

John's interests are in ecological modelling of wildlife populations, forest growth, paleoecology, and watershed modelling.

Jeff is the mapmaker for the Field Stations. He also provides geographic data and performs spatial analysis for the users and staff of the Field Stations. He graduated from SDSU Dept. of Geography with a B.A. in 1999. His specialties are cartography and Geographic Information Systems.

Jeff's personal interests include astronomy, theatre, reading, travel in the Southwest and spending time with his family (including a 4 lb. dog and a 16 lb. cat!).

Kelcey is a recent biology graduate of San Diego State University. She is a Research Coordinator for Field Stations. She hopes to pursue a master's in Ecology in the near future.

When she is not busy coordinating, Kelcey enjoys running, scrap-booking, and finger-painting with her daughter.

Jeffrey "JP" is the FSP Website Project Manager. JP works closely with all staff members and collaborators on building the FSP website. He has more computers at his desk — Mac, PC, Linux — than the populations of some independent countries. Along with his technical, database, and programming expertise, his other talents include 2D and 3D illustrations, animation, graphic design, game art, and digital audio. When he's not writing code, JP can be found playing various online video games, most notably "World of Warcraft".

Spring is the project coordinator for the Resource Assessment Program, a special project run through field stations by Department of Fish and Game. She also provides general support throughout the Field Stations Program. Spring's expertise lies in the ecology of arid and semi-arid ecosystems, ecology of invasive species, and in an unnerving passion for bio-stats and data analysis. She has experience from Mediterranean latitudes up to the arctic, and most places in between. Spring graduated from San Diego State University in 2005 with an M.S. in ecology.

Spring is by nature interested in almost everything, but her favorite hobbies are land and sea travel, backpacking (travel), music (for traveling), writing (about traveling) and naturalism (picked up while traveling). She lives in rural San Diego with her dingo dog, Calamity Jane, who was also picked up while traveling.

Sedra was the Executive Director of the Field Station Programs. Working alongside the Dean of the College of Sciences, Ms. Shapiro worked on all aspects of the development, administration, and management of the Field Station Programs. She was responsible for the management of facilities, financial resources, and staff. Sedra received her BA in both Biology and Economics at Scripps College and was involved with postgraduate work in Geography and Biology at San Diego State University.

While engaged in initiating and leading a long-range strategic planning and development process for programs in research and education, Ms. Shapiro sought funding for these programs and continued to develop collaborative initiatives with a wide range of researchers, educators, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, foundations, and members of the San Diego community. She was engaged in local preservation and land management efforts and was involved in emerging national and international programs and networks of scientific and environmental research and education.

Maria serves as the FSP Administrative Officer and is more commonly known as the hub that keeps the program running smoothly. She handles the daily challenges of managing accounts, supporting field and office staff, and interacting with university administrators, researchers, and students. Along with administrative experience, Maria has research and lab experience in environmental microbiology. Interests include alpine skiing, hiking, mountain biking, mycology, phycology, and reading sci-fi.

Dr. Luke was the head of the 4,344-acre Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve. She was responsible for the maintenance of the Reserve seeing that all facilities (including dormitories, kitchens, labs, offices and classrooms) available for researchers and classes are clean, usable, as hazard-free as possible, and not in violation of local, state, or federal ordinances and standards. Also, Dr. Luke was involved with developing short and long-term plans for vegetation management and restoration around Santa Margarita and routinely opened the reserve to visitors and prepared the reserve for meetings. She constantly maintained good relations with neighbors and agencies with responsibilities or management authority on the reserve (including the Metropolitan Water District, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, California Division of Forestry, San Diego Gas and Electric, U.S. Border Patrol). Dr. Luke received both her B.A. and Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ahmad hails from the Kingdom of New Jersey and came to us after a brief stint in the Peace Corps. His love of all things scientific and technology ridden keeps him awake at night while cheap coffee keeps him running all day.

Ahmad holds a B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers.

Mark received a B.S. in Environmental Forest Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He spent a year and a half working for the University of Washington at their Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility as a technician / interpretive naturalist. Mark arrived at the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve in Oct. 2000 where his current job duties include a little bit of everything. He maintains the Reserve's continuous weather, water, and bat monitoring projects. Mark helps visiting researchers establish projects and coordinate their use of the reserve. He also helps with upkeep of the facilities and equipment.

To keep sane Mark enjoys backpacking and hiking with his future wife. He especially enjoys any place that has trees.

Kim works on a vast array of writing and editing activities - primarily focusing on text for the FSP website and print publications. She received a BA from Western Kentucky University's School of Journalism and Broadcasting in 1994 and an MA from San Diego State University's School of Communication in 2002. Working with the FSP on a part-time basis, Kim spends her free time building sand castles with her two tots.