As VCE’s data manager, Megan handles data cleaning, storage, and reporting pipelines so researchers can spend more time on what matters and less time wrangling spreadsheets and code.
Megan earned a B.S. in Biology from William & Mary, where joining the fledgling college bird club jump-started an interest in birding. This interest led to several years as a traveling field technician on projects monitoring nesting Red-headed, Acorn, and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers; performing behavioral experiments on Red-backed Fairywrens in Australia; tracking Rusty Blackbirds in suburban backyards; and educating visitors at the Cape May hawk watch. Megan fell in love with data management and analysis during an M.S. in Applied Ecology and Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
Outside of work at VCE, Megan is an author on the second Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas and an accomplished artist, and can usually be found birding, geocaching, or looking for jumping spiders.
Select Publications
Peele A.M., M. Massa, R.W. Rohrbaugh, S.R. Harding, E.A. Hunter, K.J. Loope, D.A. Sommers, M.A. Thomas, and A.L. Kane. 2025. Virginia’s Second Breeding Bird Atlas (2016–2020). https://vabirdatlas.org
Massa, M, ER Matthews, WG Shriver, and EB Cohen. Response of grassland birds to management in national battlefield parks. 2024. Journal of Wildlife Management.
Nemes, CE, SA Cabrera-Cruz, M Anderson, LW DeGroote, JG Desimone, M Massa, and EB Cohen. More than mortality: Consequences of human activity on migrating birds extend beyond direct mortality. 2023. Ornithological Applications.
Hendrix, T, F Fernandez-Duque, S Toner, L Hitt, R Thady, M Massa, S Hagler, M Armfield, N Clarke, P Honscheid, S Khalil, C Hawkins, S Lantz, J Welklin, JP Swaddle, M Webster, and J Karubian. Behavioural differences between ornamented and unornamented male Red-backed Fairywrens in the nonbreeding season. 2023. Emu – Austral Ornithology.
