As the founder of Kitizen Science and inventor of the world’s first app for conducting photographic mark-recapture research by collecting data with smartphones, I adapted wildlife population research methods to create a citizen science approach to scientifically estimate free-roaming cat population sizes in urban and suburb areas. I conducted a pilot study comparing volunteers using my app to a more intensive expert survey of cats on the same small suburban island.

The big-picture goal of Kitizen Science was to create a rigorous and well-validated system to study the effectiveness of spay/neuter programs over time by conducting long-term, controlled field studies. Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain funding needed to continue in this direction.

A manuscript on the pilot study is in preparation to submit to an academic journal.