Contact me for a full CV or resume.
Current position
2023-Present: Postdoctoral associate at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Using machine learning techniques to predict suitability (i.e. risk) of lakes and rivers for aquatic invasive species in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
Working with Dr. Nick Phelps and Dr. Lynn Waterhouse in the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center and the Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology.
Education
Ph.D in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Interdisciplinary Quantitative Biology certificate. University of Colorado, Boulder. Received May 2023.
B.A. in Biology and Mathematics. Concordia College at Moorhead, MN. Received May 2017.
Publications
Vagle, G. L., J. C. Lendemer, E. A. Manzitto-Tripp, and C. M. McCain. In review. Patterns and predictors of lichen rarity in a biodiversity hotspot.
Vagle, G. L., and C. M. McCain. 2020. Natural population variability may be masking the more-individuals hypothesis. Ecology 101(5):e03035. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3035
Selected presentations
Vagle, G. L., C. M. McCain, Erin A. Tripp, and J. C. Lendemer. Important conditions for rare lichens vary by elevation in the southern Appalachians. North American Conference on Conservation Biology, Reno, NV. Oral presentation. 19 July 2022.
Vagle, G. L. and C. M. McCain. Elevational patterns of the seven forms of rarity in small mammals. American Society of Mammalogists Annual Meeting, Tucson, AZ. Oral presentation. 20 June 2022.
Vagle, G. L. and C. M. McCain. Natural population variability may be masking the more-individuals hypothesis. Ecological Society of America annual meeting, Salt Lake City, UT (virtual). Oral presentation. 3 Aug 2020.
Vagle, G. L., and C. M. McCain. Natural population variation may be masking the more-individuals hypothesis. American Society of Mammalogists Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. 1 July 2019.
Vagle, G. L.., C. Whitten, D. Braund, J. Watson, A. Schulz, and J.C. Whittaker. Comparison of small mammal communities on restored and remnant prairies in northwestern Minnesota. Annual Meeting of the Minnesota Chapter of the Wildlife Society Poster Session. 15 February 2017.
Quantitative and computational Skills
Advanced (7+ years) experience using R for data wrangling, data visualization, statistical analysis (frequentist and Bayesian modeling), and predictive modeling (including machine learning methods).
Advanced (5 years) experience using R (and ArcGIS) for spatial analysis, including spatial statistics, working with rasters and shapefiles, and creation of static and interactive maps.
Proficient using git (GitHub) for version control and bash command line for interfacing with servers. Intermediate level Python and Matlab use. Introductory html experience.