Title: Owner & Lead Scientist; Data Analyst
Employer: DAPPER Stats; Weecology Lab at the University of Florida
Prior Position: Biometrician, Cramer Fish Sciences

Juniper (they/them) Simonis has over a decade of quantitative biology experience, with particular foci in population ecology and conservation biology. Juniper's science is unified by a desire to integrate data and theory to answer conservation-relevant questions.

After their Integrative Biology degree in 2006, Juniper received their PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University in 2013, where they studied the impact of habitat fragmentation on predator-prey dynamics in freshwater rock pools on coastal New England islands. A big fan of integrating approaches, Juniper conducted extensive field surveys, ran manipulative experiments, and developed novel statistical and dynamic models as part of their thesis. While in graduate school, Juniper also developed and taught a graduate-level course and multiple workshops on statistical programming, as well as running a weekly stats lunch.

From 2013-2015, Juniper was a research scientist at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, where they developed population models to guide cooperative management of highly endangered species from a diversity of taxonomic groups. Working directly with population managers gave Juniper an immense appreciation for integrating realistic human dimensions into population models.

From 2015-2016, Juniper was a Biometrician at Cramer Fish Sciences, a fisheries consulting company. While at Cramer, Juniper provided quantitative support to a variety of applied conservation research projects aimed at endangered fish species.

In 2015, Juniper founded DAPPER Stats, a consulting company that focuses on providing quantitative answers to pressing conservation issues. Juniper currently splits their time between DAPPER and working as a Data Analyst in the Weecology Lab at the University of Florida.

Personal: While not at work, Juniper spends their time playing sports, drumming, cooking, traveling, and enjoying the outdoors. Juniper’s sport of focus right now is roller derby and they skate for the Rose City Rollers, two-time world champions of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

Juniper would be a great person to talk to about starting your own business, consulting, or quantitative biology. Contact Christina Swanson at alumnimentor@sib.illinois.edu if you would like to connect with Juniper.