About Us

Audrey Francell is a rising senior at Sewanee, The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. Her passion for the outdoors and conservation, fostered greatly by her parents, has led her to pursue her bachelor’s degree with a major in Natural Resources, a minor in Environmental Studies, and a certificate in Watershed Sciences. Her studies have largely been centered around forestry, forest ecology, and sustainable agriculture. With her family being just down the road in Fort Davis, Audrey has spent much of her life exploring and appreciating everything West Texas has to offer. Now, through the BUMP program and Borderlands Research Institute, she gets to continue that with an even bigger emphasis on learning and broadening her intellectual horizons.

Audrey’s enthusiasm for proper land management and protection of native species and biodiversity has led her to pursue game bird research on scaled quail and habitat enhancement techniques through BRI and the hands-on experience they offer. Audrey will use GPS telemetry and UAV imagery to determine nesting and roosting site selection for the understudied species to maximize reproductive success and overall habitat for scaled quail populations. She has a deep interest and appreciation for grassland protection, making this project a great comprehensive endeavor to further her studies.