Melissa (Mel) Branco Bowman
PO Box 251
Hammond, WI 54015
Tel. 715.760.2160
E-mail: mbbowman -AT- gmail DOT com
Birth: 05/27/1983 Belleville, NJ

Education:
Carleton College, Northfield, MN
BA Psychology, concentrations in behavior & cognition
Class of 2006
Worked extensively with cotton-top tamarin monkeys for 3 years.
Research experience with rats, pigeons, cats, & dogs.
Other studies include general biology, genetics, psychopharmacology, and neuroscience.

The Truth about Cats and Dogs: Studying Pointing in Domestic Cats (Felis catus) and Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris).
Carleton College Senior Thesis; May, 2005. *PDF*

Lorazepam and Memory: Behavioral Psychology, Carleton College; June, 2004.

Global vs. Local stimuli preference in pigeons, by M. Branco and A. Lewis: Psychology of Learning Lab PDF file of our poster, Carleton College; November, 2003. *large file*

Bog Bodies: Voices of the Dead, NYU CAS Anthropology; April, 2002.

Honors:
Sigma Xi, 2005

The Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ
Graduated 2001

Ireland: MKA Senior May Term Project website; May 2001.

Current Position:
Office Manager, Hammond Dental Clinic
979 Davis St. PO Box 488
Hammond, WI 54015
Tel. 715.796.2261

Other Education:
EMT-Basic, WITC New Richmond, WI September 2006 - January 2007

Interests (in a nutshell):
SCUBA diving, caving, rafting, rock & ice climbing, skiing, hiking, reading, speaker design, landscaping, traveling, cooking, HTML coding, being a mommy, learning new things and meeting new people!

About me:
I'm a 25 years young female originally from Kearny/Jersey City, NJ, under the dark shadow that is Manhattan. During the summer of 1999 I attended summer sessions at UCSB where I had a splendid experience! I then graduated class of 2001 from The Montclair Kimberley Academy and made the great four-mile leap to Manhattan to attend NYU College of Arts & Sciences for the 2001-2002 school year. Unfortunately, NYU was unable to provide the experience and resources that I desired, and after living through 9/11/01, I was ready for a change in scenery. I transferred the following year to Carleton College in Minnesota where I completed my degree in psychology (concentration in animal behavior) in November 2005, and graduated June of 2006. My main campus job was working with the cotton-top tamarins. They are very cute, weigh only a pound, and are very interesting primates. I am very thankful to have been allowed the chance to work with them for almost 3 years. During my time at Carleton, I also worked at in the Psychology office and ran the Olin Mac Lab one night per week.

On July 9, 2005, I married my soulmate, Chad; we later honeymooned in Cozumel. We love each other very much and have currently settled down and bought a house in Wisconsin. I met Chad at Spring Valley Caverns in southern MN. He was covered in mud and I had a kidney infection (and thus was on surface watch and not covered in mud). I knew from the moment I looked into those "nebula eyes" that I was destined to share my life with him. Over the next several weeks we spent all but one weekend together, and on March 8th of that year became a couple. I suppose the rest is history! Chad was hugely supportive during my mother's death in May '03, and everything that went along with it. I thank him for all the joy and support he's given to me and to our cats, and look forward to our life together, now with the addition of our son, Aidan. I have so many ideas of what I want to do with my life, so now I just have to figure out in which order to do them! I love traveling and have a long list of places I wish to visit. I never expected anything in life to be easy - then it would be boring - so throw me the challenge! Like, for example, a tornado! I am an extremely random, gregarious person who'll try almost anything at least once and lives for new and audacious activities. And so with that I shall log off and leave you, fellow bugs in amber, to enjoy the rest of our family site. Take care, and don't forget to smile.