Meet the Team

The team of UIC professionals leading the Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group are passionate about promoting pollinator habitats and healthy ecosystems along rights-of-way and other energy and transportation lands. Learn more about us below.

Dan Salas

Dan leads the Working Group and the University’s Sustainable Landscapes program, which explores integrating biodiversity and infrastructure.

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Iris Caldwell

Iris began the Working Group in 2015 and now serves in a strategic advisory capacity.

Caroline Hernandez

Caroline keeps the Working Group running smoothly and manages several research and outreach projects to improve habitat on working lands.

Megan Petraitis

Megan manages the Monarch CCAA administration and application review process, and supports other Working Group research activities.

Tegha Obire

Tegha leads the gROWing Chicago Habitat network and geospatial habitat database, while supporting other Working Group activities.

Catherine O’Reilly

Catherine supports the conservation agreement programs and coordinates partner outreach and engagement.

Alison Little

Alison supports the conservation agreement programs, partner outreach, and other Working Group research activities.

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Klaudia Kuklinska

Klaudia supports the Illinois Monarch Project, Monarch CCAA, Pollinator Scorecard, and both in-person and virtual meeting facilitation.

Rachit Patel

Rachit supports various aspects of the Working Group including website management and data input.

Daytonna Anderson

Daytonna performs data management for the conservation agreement programs and supports the Geospatial Habitat Database.