Melissa Hamilton is a volunteer science writer at PRI, and previous volunteer at the Cayuga Nature Center where she bathed a skink and made salads for bearded dragon. After graduating from Syracuse University and Vermont College, she worked on the clinical team at Gould Farm, a psycho-social rehabilitation community in Western, MA and assisted in restarting the Berkshire National Fish Hatchery. As a writer for children and adults, her poetry and prose have been featured in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. Currently, she provides housing as a landlord for individuals with developmental disabilities in Trumansburg, NY.