Congratulations to Lauren Benedict on a successful thesis defense!

Lauren successfully defended her thesis on March 17, 2026 titled, “Impacts of Prescribed Burning and Midstory Thinning on the Abundance of Eastern Whip-Poor-Will and Chuck-Will’s-Widow in Southern Illinois”.

Lauren has accepted a position with Iowa State University and the Iowa DNR as a Research Scientist with the Multiple Species Inventory & Monitoring (MSIM) program. Big Congrats! Thanks for your contributions to our group and to the nightjars!