Kristine Hoffmann, M.S. (December 2007)

Kristine Hoffmann’s interest in herpetology and conservation began in seventh grade when she and her father certified their first Massachusetts vernal pool and encountered their first Spotted Turtle – a former species of special concern in Massachusetts. Throughout junior high school Kris’s fascination with herps grew into an obsession. Her mother began to affectionately call her “hatchling,” and warn that “there wasn’t a safe puddle in town.” Kris spent her high school years volunteering and interning for the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. She formed a Vernal Pool Club at school, gave guest lectures about Spotted turtles at other high schools, competed in science fairs, became an associate member of the town Conservation Commission and collected data for the state database on vernal pools, Spotted turtles, Wood turtles, and Triangular Floaters (a rare Massachusetts freshwater mussel).

In 2001 Kris enrolled in the University of Massachusetts, where she earned a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation. While at UMASS, she served as a volunteer caretaker of Dr. Alan Richmond’s live reptile teaching collection and as a summer intern for the school’s Wildlife Department radio tracking Blanding’s turtles. With this experience under her belt, she was accepted into the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York under the mentorship of Jeremy Feinberg, where she spent two summers radio tracking Hognose Snakes and Spotted Turtles, manning the Marbled and Tiger Salamander drift fences and supervising and training other students. In order to diversify her experience, Kris interned at Michigan State University during the summer after her graduation in 2005, where she worked with invasive Sea Lampreys in Lake Huron.

Kris received a Master of Science degree in December 2007 from the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida. Kris conducted research on the invasive Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis). This large treefrog, introduced into Florida in the 1920’s through cargo, has since become firmly established and is believed to impact the native amphibians and reptiles through competition and direct predation. Kris’s research focused on evaluating the impacts of this invasive species on the native treefrogs in Florida. For more information about Kris's research, visit her research webpage.