We are very happy to announce that our chosen 2023 Bob Hood Scholarship winner is Ashley Marie Ridlon. Ashley attends Texas A&M while studying Veterinary Medicine and participates in various research projects involving species understanding and conservation. We look forward to following her journey to see where her education and career leads her next.
More about Ashley Marie Ridlon
Career Goals
As someone who has participated in research under several USDA, TPWD, and NIH animal conservation based grants, I am very interested in research, especially when it comes to species understanding and conservation. I enjoy being a part of designing new innovative technology for exotics and uncovering new medical techniques for exotic animals. This past summer I solidified these ambitions as I served as the lead veterinary student researcher for Hill Country Aviaries and trained avian geneticists from the National Field Museum on a sample collection of endangered parrots at a facility that houses over 2,000 birds. The research that Ihave done with this avian geneticist I hope to continue in the future to further karyotype different species and advance conservation efforts through increasing genetic diversity in avian species in different breeding operations. Ultimately I will be graduating veterinary school in May of 2025 and aspire to work with either TPWD or different conservation research projects, wherever a veterinarian is needed. I am currently working at a veterinary clinic that sees animals from a local rehabilitator and different exotic animals, work with reptile rehabilitation and education programs, and am pursuing different externship opportunities to learn more about sedating and treating all different species. After I have my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, I will be applying to several positions that have opportunities for work with different rehabilitation centers and I have an open invitation to work with the National Field Museum in Chicago to help with current avian genetic advancement sand conservation efforts. I will continue to narrow my focus down as I advance through the veterinary program and look forward to making a lasting impact on different endangered species.
Summary of Outdoor Activities
I have been active in many outdoor activities from a very young age thanks to my local Master Naturalist Chapter, McKinney Roughs Nature Park, and the support of the American Federation of Aviculture. When I was in high school, I spent ample time at McKinney Roughs Nature Parkworking over the summer as a camp counselor to teach children about the importance of conservation and preserving the nature around them. I also spent time on site during the school year helping to survey species present and looking at the birds that migrated into and out of the park each year. Every Christmas for several years I also helped to quantify bird numbers in the area by volunteering to do a community wide bird count. In addition to this, I served on the Science Olympiad team and was regionally awarded for accomplishments and excelling in water quality and salinity testing that I had been certified with for the Colorado River from training received from McKinney Roughs Nature Park. I also worked on several projects to “keep Bastrop beautiful” and was fortunate to be recognized for these efforts in 2017 when I graduated high school. Post high school graduation and throughout my undergraduate degree, I continued to pursue conservation efforts in a different light and put more emphasis on endangered species of birds. I found an opportunity with Hill Country Aviaries LLC and helped to pilot an internship and training program that focused on the dietary management, husbandry, and overall care of endangered and rare birds. I have maintained this relationship and have used it over the past 6 years to engage and train several veterinary and undergraduate students, as well as different aviangeneticists and conservationists from Natura Mexicana on various aspects of neonatal care and emergency interventions for field conservation efforts. The Applied Biodiversity SciencesConservation Scholar Program granted funding for research that I was involved in for conservation efforts for Eider ducks. This grant allowed me to generate new egg logger technology for better incubation parameter documentation using 3D printed technology specialized for the species. The American Ornithological Society allowed me to present a poster on this research in June of 2019 and the Schubot Avian Health Center at Texas A&M University also invited me to present an oral presentation that same spring. After that grant was completed, I worked briefly on Texas A&M’s Greater Prairie Chicken project with Dr. Rosemary Walzem and I helped to build and fortify the enclosures that are still being used for their breeding and research programs today. Concurrently, I have helped with Texas A&M’s VetSchool Open Houses to educate thousands of visitors on reptile conservation and education and the benefits that they provide to different ecosystems in the state. Under KnK Reptile Rescue and the work I have done with relocating snakes over the past 6.5 years, I have also obtained USDA education permits to help rehabilitate native Texas tortoises for example and get them into breeding programs or released back into the wild. Some of this work has led me to help with some of the Texas tortoises on Dr. Jill Heatley’s research projects at Texas A&M University (focused on the care of these animals).
I was selected as a representative of the Veterinary Medical Scientist Research Program at Texas A&M over the summer of 2022 where I generated computer code for an artificial intelligence program that allows for a computer to age eggs based on their air cell size to predict when eggs will hatch. I presented this research at the National Veterinary Scholars Symposium and generated a manuscript that will be published in the near future. The hope is that this research will allow for conservation efforts and easier human intervention in nests that is more automated and allows for disturbance of the nest only when neonates in the egg are in distress. Most recently I have completed Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) testing certification so that I am able to help monitor CWD in Texas and make an impact on the local cervid population to hopefully monitor and help keep and eye on the spread of the disease so that captive and wild populations do not cause a massive die off from spongiform positive animals.
