Projects
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Community, Outreach & Leadership Initiatives
To me, bridging participatory science, ecology and conservation, and computer science involves more than just the research. Check out my community leadership and outreach efforts on my Outreach & Initiatives page:
- Active Animals Ontology (ACTAN): Developing backend support for the Active Animals Ontology to structure animal behavior data.
- iNaturalist Ambassador: Planning bioblitzes, participatory science workshops, and biodiversity documentation.
- TWS Student Chapter President: Leading the SIU Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society in professional development and student mentorship.
- Monthly Vibe Coding Parties: Check out our project showcase at the Vibe Coding Party Gallery.
- Biodiversity Hall of Fame: Learn more about recognizing young naturalists at biodiversityhalloffame.org.
Master’s Thesis Research on Secondary Image Data
Secondary data is contextual ecological information incidentally captured in an image, such as habitats, species interactions, physiological state, phenology, morphology, ontogeny, and sex (Callaghan et al., 2021; Pernat et al., 2024). In my Master’s research, I aim to demonstrate the versatility of secondary data for solving ecological problems and revealing ecological insights. I am particularly excited about stimulating interest and creativity in the use of secondary data in ecological studies. For more information on mine and others’ work on secondary data, see my Secondary Data Page.
Undergraduate Research
Undergrad Honors Thesis on Southeastern U.S. Wildfire Ignitions
TBD
Undergrad Projects on Plusiinae Moth Species Identification
See my published work on improving species identification of moths in the subfamily Plusiinae using machine learning models and geometric morphometrics and deep learning models and wing patterns
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. © 2026 Karina M. Torres. All rights reserved.
If referencing any preliminary findings or ideas, please cite as:
Torres, K. M., "Projects," Personal Website, August 2026.