Oscar grew up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts wading into local ponds and streams in search of wildlife. After high school, Oscar worked with shorebirds, bats, and snakes through BiodiversityWorks, a wildlife research group on the island, for four summers. He graduated from Warren Wilson College in May 2017 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and a concentration in Conservation Biology. While attending Warren Wilson College, Oscar discovered his passion for herpetology and worked with BiodiversityWorks conducted a population study of painted turtles on Martha’s Vineyard for his senior thesis. Following graduation, he worked in the herpetology lab at the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center in southwest Georgia, where he worked with snakes, lizards, and gopher tortoises. In his current staff position, Oscar’s research focuses on the behavioral and spatial ecology of gopher tortoises, though he enjoys assisting with all research projects in the lab.