Emily Cornelius was a 2011-2013 Wormsloe Fellow and a M.S. student in the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Her thesis work focused on the energetic trade-offs that occur within migratory songbirds during the fall migration. As birds migrate they must store an immense amount of fat to fly the long-distance to their wintering ground, and thus other physiological needs are over-looked, such as the ability to fight off parasite or disease infection.
Emily grew up in Southwest Michigan where she didn’t discover her strong interest in the outdoors until a study abroad trip to Panama in 2009! She went on to receive a B.S. from Michigan State University (MSU) in Zoology: Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. While at MSU, she worked in the Avian Health and Disease Ecology laboratory in the Fisheries and Wildlife department for two years. It was while working in this lab that she developed her passion for birds and disease research. After coming to UGA, she discovered her love of migration ecology, which perfectly aligned with her passion for avian research.
Emily is currently pursuing a PhD in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Winsconsin.
