Megan Lewton

Education

• Certificate of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Penn State (2025)
• Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Conservation from Virginia Tech (2023)
• Minor in Biological Sciences
• Minor in Humanities, Science, and Environment

About

Meghan lives an active lifestyle and enjoys adventure. You can find her running, hiking, playing soccer, kayaking, or working out. She deeply loves to travel and experience other cultures, and has been to Honduras, Ireland, and Scotland (so far!). In addition to her passion for the outdoors, she also loves to read and paint.

Professional Experience

Meghan comes from a wildlife background, working with state agencies, non-profits, and universities. She currently works full-time for Sultana Education Foundation (a local environmental non-profit) as a Paddling Program Assistant, where she teaches students about the local environment and wildlife while canoeing/kayaking on the water. Before this, she worked for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as a Wildlife Technician, helping to manage state-owned wildlife habitat. She also contributed to a research project on Blanding's Turtles, where she used radio telemetry and GIS to track and study turtle movement and nesting activity. Before this, she worked for the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant. Here, she conducted gopher tortoise and eastern indigo snake surveys and ultimately helped relocate them before their habitat was impacted by development. Before this, she worked for the Great Basin Institute in northeastern Nevada, contributing to a research project on small mammals, mainly the dark kangaroo mouse.

As an undergraduate at Virginia Tech, she conducted research on jaguars in Belize, Central America, using remote trail camera data. Her research was aimed at understanding jaguar cub movements with their mothers, and if signs of lactation in the mother actually indicated cub presence, as jaguars are notoriously difficult to study in the wild. This research helped to better understand their reproductive rates and therefore aid in managing their populations.

Research Interests

• Wildlife conservation
• Spatial ecology
• Wildlife habitat use
• Endangered species
• Climate change