Let’s Meet Ryan!
I am the Senior Animal Behaviorist and Manager of the Department of Animal Behavior and Enrichment at a contract research organization (CRO). From childhood I always had an immense fascination with animals of all kinds, and decided that caring for and learning about them was what I desired as an occupation. I received a B.S in Marine Science from Coastal Carolina University in 2008 where I focused primarily on coral reef ecology, sea turtles and marine mammals. I have spent ten years working professionally within the veterinary and laboratory animal science fields where I have gained a wide variety of experience, including animal behavior, aquatics and veterinary care. Over the last six years I have been building and revamping animal behavior and enrichment programs at multiple CROs.
How did you become interested in your field?
I have always had a tremendous fascination with all kinds of animals. Once I started caring for nonhuman primates, I realized that animal behavior was the single most interesting part of every aspect of working with animals I had experienced.
How did you benefit from your ABI experience?
It allowed me to determine whether animal behavior was the field I wanted to pursue professionally.
How did you complete your field requirement?
I was actively working with nonhuman primates in laboratory animal science.
Do you have any advice for potential students or current students?
Try out the classes if you have any interest at all. Without trying you will never know if this is what you want to do or just how good at it you can be. I have worked in multiple fields within animal science, serving as everything from veterinary technician to aquatic specialist. However, I would have never known how fulfilling animal behavior could be until I took the programs by the Animal Behavior Institute. The knowledge provided by these courses helped open doors I never knew existed.
Would you recommend ABI?
Most certainly. I actively recommend these classes to my employees and employees of other departments within my company.