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Jennifer M Wardell

Jennifer Wardell is a Biologist based in Ann Arbor, MI. 

Jennifer is a Biologist at the Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) working with Peter Esselman's Advanced Technology lab team.  Jennifer collaborates on multiple projects within the lab on various topics (e.g., round goby, Cladophora, and dreissenid mussels) and manages lab productivity and product generation.  Her current research focuses on invasive dreissenid mussels, seeking to understand the ecological factors that can predict or explain their distributions and how to better capture mussel abundances using new technologies.  She is interested in interdisciplinary science projects and believes advanced technology methods will improve our understanding of Great Lakes ecosystems.

Education and Certifications

  • University of Michigan Master of Science - Ecosystem Science & Management and Geospatial Data Science

  • University of Michigan Bachelor of Science - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Abstracts and Presentations

  • Inferring benthic fish weights from photographic pixel areas to support automated biomass estimation - Poster, International Association of Great Lakes Research 2018

  • Using machine learning to identify dreissenid mussels - Presentation, International Association of Great Lakes Research 2019

  • Predicting Dreissena spp. presence and biomass as a function of Lake Huron environmental characteristics - Poster, Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting 2022