Current Students
2027 Students
Evelynn Bird
Evelynn earned a BA in art history and arts management with a minor in fine arts from the University of San Francisco. She was a pre-program intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian where she focused on treating indigenous objects. Evelynn also held positions at Arte Americas in Fresno and Cross Museum Services in Washington D.C. in addition to completing the Diversity Apprentice Program at The Broad in Los Angeles where she trained at the LA County Museum of Art, Academy Museum, LA County Arts/Culture Dept, and The Autry Museum.
Madison Conliffe
Madison studied at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study as a Gallatin Newington-Cropsey Foundation Fellow and graduated with a BA in art history and minoring in studio art. She held pre-program positions at New York University’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department and the New York Public Library. Madison was also a Harvard Art Museums Junior Conservation Fellow where she trained in the paintings, frames, objects, and paper labs.
Eva Marie Fuchillo
Eva Marie attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA where she earned a BA and studied abroad in both New Zealand and Japan. Before coming to Buffalo, she held several pre-program positions in Philadelphia as a conservation technician at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Linda Lennon Objects Conservation, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Eva Marie also participated in two archaeological field schools in Olympia, WA with South Puget Sound Community College and the Pacific Northwest Archaeological Society.
Rebecca Heyman
Rebecca has a BA in studio art, art history, and chemistry from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN where she was a TA in the chemistry department. She was a pre-program lab assistant in the paintings conservation studio at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware and a digital volunteer for the Smithsonian Archives. In addition, Rebecca was a volunteer working in several different departments at the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor, WA, and was a conservation technician at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Victoria Kitirattragarn
Victoria was a conservation technician at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA working in the objects, textile, and paintings conservation labs before coming to Buffalo. She was also a pre-program intern at Studio TKM Associates in Somerville, MA where she focused on paper conservation treatments. Furthermore, Victoria spent time as a pre-program intern at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and earned her BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston.
Cindy Moreno
Cindy earned a BA in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles. After graduating, she was selected to participate in the Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation internship program at the Straus Center for Conservation at Harvard Museums. Cindy then went on to a position as a Getty post-baccalaureate conservation intern at both the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. She was also a Getty Conservation Intern at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA before heading to Buffalo State University.
Megan O'Brien
Megan went to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where she earned a BA in art history and served as a research assistant while completing her studies. She completed pre-program internships in Minneapolis, MN at KCI Conservation and the Midwest Art Conservation Center in both the objects and paintings conservation departments. Megan was also a conservation intern at the National Parks Service in Harpers Ferry Center, WV where she worked in five conservation labs treating artifacts from nine National Park Service historic sites.
Charlotte Shepard
Charlotte has a BFA in painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in addition to completing Chemistry for Conservators at the International Academic Projects program. She was an art and archival assistant at The Union League of Philadelphia and a pre-program intern at Carole Abercauph Paintings Conservation, Ltd. Charlotte also has experience as an art teacher instructing students at the Made Institute for Fashion in Philadelphia in fashion illustration and was a pre-program intern at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art.
Yuanzhen Song
Yuanzhen was a pre-program intern at The National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. before starting her graduate studies in Buffalo. She attended the University of California at Berkeley where she earned a BA in the history of art and participated in the Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation workshop after graduation. Yuanzhen was also a pre-program intern at both The National Portrait Gallery and Archival Art Services in Washington, D.C.
Samantha Tepper
Samantha began her pre-program experience as a book and paper intern at the Conservation Centre at the Penn State Library in State College, PA. She then went on to positions at the Amstel House Museum in New Castle, DE, and as a studio assistant in the paintings lab of the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Before starting her graduate studies, Samantha was a conservation technician at The National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, NY for over 2 years. She also earned a BA in art history from The Pennsylvania State University
2026 Students
Sam Ayvazian-Hancock
Sam earned a BA in ancient, medieval, and modern history from Durham University in the United Kingdom in addition to earning a graduate diploma in conservation from West Dean College. She was an intern at the Redwood Library and a collections care technician at the Newport Restoration Foundation, both located in Newport, RI. Before starting her graduate studies, Sam was also a conservation technician for special collections at the Weismann Preservation Center at Harvard University Libraries in Cambridge, MA.
Mackenzie Becker
Mackenzie attended Capital University in Columbus, OH where she earned a BA in art therapy and was most recently a conservation technician at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. She was also a conservation intern at Ruth Barach Cox Paintings Conservation Inc. and at Duke University Libraries, both located in Durham, NC. In addition, Mackenzie spent time in Miami, FL where she held positions at the Pérez Art Museum as both a preventative conservation technician and associate registrar/conservation coordinator.
Elena Best
Elena attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA where she earned a BFA in photography. While in Atlanta, she was a conservation intern at the Michael C. Carlos Museum in the Parsons Conservation Lab. Elena was also a conservation technician at both Andrea Pitsch Conservation and The Better Image, private conservation practices in New York City. In addition, she was President of Georgia State University’s photo society, Exlucis.
Margaret Canfield
Margaret was a conservation technician at Princeton University Library in New Jersey before starting her graduate studies in Buffalo. She earned a BA in the history of art from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY where she worked in the library conservation lab and interned at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. Margaret was also an American Conservation Experience Curatorial Fellow at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, NH.
Stephanie Gold
Stephanie has a BA in chemistry and the history of art and architecture from Boston University. She gained extensive pre-program experience at The Williamstown Art Conservation Center in Williamstown, MA where she interned in the paintings, paper, textiles, and furniture/wooden objects conservation labs. Stephanie has also worked as a Smithsonian digital volunteer and is a successful watercolor artist and owner of Goldpaints Home Portraits.
Caitlin Green
Caitlin was a pre-program intern at The Preservation Society of Newport County in Newport, RI before coming to Buffalo. She earned a BA with dual majors in art history and studio art from Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH in addition to completing an MA in the history of art and architecture from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Caitlin was also a pre- program intern at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford and at Amann + Estabrook Conservation Associates in New York City.
Greta Llanes Serrano
Greta earned a BFA in printmaking from The Cooper Union School of Art in New York, NY in addition to a certificate in bookbinding from The North Bennet Street School in Boston, MA. She was a fine art fabricator and foundry craftsman before entering the conservation field. While in Boston, Greta was a book conservation intern at The Frances Loeb Library, the National Parks Service (HACE Center), and The von Clemm & Driscoll Family Fellow in Book Conservation at The Boston Athenaeum. Her pre-program experience also includes conservation technician positions at both The Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston and The New-York Historical Society in Manhattan.
Kelsey Marino
Kelsey attended the University of Delaware in Wilmington where she earned a BA in art conservation and was a studio and teaching assistant in the Winterthur paintings conservation lab. Before starting her graduate studies, she was a conservation technician at deGhetaldi Fine Art Restoration LLC, Longevity Art Preservation LLC, the New Castle Historical Society, and Albertson and Nunan, Inc. Kelsey is also creator of the Private Project: An Art Conservation podcast.
Katherine Miromonti
Katherine attended the University of Denver where she earned a BFA in pre-art conservation. She has had a wide range of pre-program positions ranging from an IMLS paper conservation internship at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to a collections intern for Léo Marchutz’s catalogue raisonné in Aix-en-Provence. Katherine also had conservation internships at Mountain States Conservation in Colorado Springs, the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, and most recently University of Washington Libraries in Seattle.
Paola Valentin Irizarry
Paola earned a BA in the history of art from the University of Puerto Rico in addition to earning a graduate certificate in preservation from the University of Valencia. Before starting her graduate studies, she was a pre-program intern at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, TX and held the positions of both assistant registrar and assistant collection manager at the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art at the University of Puerto Rico. Paola also had conservation internships in Washington D.C. at the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American History.
2025 Students
Devon Blankenbaker
Devon is a Mellon LACE fellow and earned a BA in art history from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in addition to attending the Brooks Institute to study photography. Before starting his graduate studies, he was an assistant exhibition coordinator and a conservation intern at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. While at the University of Virginia, Devon was also both a collections management and exhibition intern at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection which features one of the best indigenous Australian art collections in the world. During the summer of 2023, he was an intern in book conservation at Emory University's Woodruff Library in Atlanta and has been active in the department's Equity & Inclusion Committee. Devon is completing a third-year book conservation internship at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C this year.
Elise Cabral
Elise came to Buffalo from San Diego where she was a pre-program Mellon Fellow in Paper Conservation at the Balboa Art Conservation Center. She earned an MA in modern and contemporary art history, theory, and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Elise was also an advanced book conservation intern and summer lab manager at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, WY and spent the summer of 2023 interning in paper and photograph conservation at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, TX. This year, Elise is a third-year intern at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Sophie Church
Sophie came to Buffalo from Arizona where she was a conservation assistant at both the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, and the Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records in Phoenix. She attended the University of Arizona in Tucson earning an MA in art history. While at the U of A, she was the objects conservation intern at the Arizona State Museum and a student assistant in the University Libraries and Special Collections. Sophie also earned a BA in comparative cultural studies from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and spent the summer of 2023 as a photograph conservation intern at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, TX. She is currently a third-year intern at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. studying photograph conservation.
Vu Do
Vu is a Fulbright Vietnamese Student Scholar and was an associate lecturer at Vietnam National University teaching Art and Design Materials for Business Management before coming to Buffalo. He has a BFA in paintings from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia where his work was exhibited in several student shows. Vu is an accomplished artist and lecturer who has taught at both The Painter’s Studio and Wellspring Hanoi International Bilingual School in Vietnam. He hopes to return to Vietnam after his graduate studies to promote the conservation of cultural relics. Vu recently completed a graduate summer internship at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art and also attended the 7th Forbes Symposium on Scientific Research in the Field of Asian Art hosted by the museum in 2023. This year, he is a third-year intern at the National Gallery of Art in the objects conservation lab.
Renata Gumkowska
Renata earned a BA in art history and studio art from Hunter College in New York, NY in addition to studying life drawing at The Arts Students League of New York. While in the city, she was a pre-program intern at the American Museum of Natural History in the Anthropology Department and a collections assistant at the American Folk Art Museum. Renata was also a conservation assistant at Luca Bonetti, Corp., a private conservation practice in New York and a summer intern at Aurora Art Conservation in Grand Island, NY last year. She is currently a third-year intern in paintings conservation at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Sutton Hastman
Sutton is currently a third-year intern at the National Park Service in Harper's Ferry, WV in the objects conservation lab. Before starting her graduate studies, she was an art conservation technician for several years with Richmond Conservation Studio in Virginia where she gained experience in paintings, objects, and paper conservation treatments. Sutton earned both a BS in chemistry and a BA in art history from Mary Baldwin College (now University) in Staunton, VA where she won The Ulysse Desportes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Art History. She was also a custom framer at Michael’s in the fine arts department and spent a summer interning at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the objects conservation lab.
Charlotte Starnes
Charlotte is a Mellon LACE fellow and earned a BA in art history from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL in addition to a second BA in international relations and global affairs from Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, FL. While attending Eckerd College, she studied abroad in Honduras, Malta, Ghana, and England. Before starting her graduate studies, Charlotte was an archaeological conservation laboratory intern at the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research Conservation Lab in addition to holding positions at both the Florida State University Special Collections and the Georgia State Archives in Morrow. In 2023, she had a busy summer attending Rare Book School in London and interning at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. This academic year, Charlotte is a third-year intern at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. in the book conservation lab.
Sara Thornburg
Before starting her graduate studies, Sara had three conservation internships at the Harpers Ferry Center, Museum Conservation Services division of the National Park Service in Charles Town, WV. She was also a custom framer at Michael’s Stores where she worked on fragile pieces along with doing mats and preservation design. Sara is an accomplished illustrator and attended the Columbus College of Art and Design where she earned a BFA in illustration in addition to attending an AIC Preventive Conservation Workshop at the Staatsburgh State Historic Site in NY. During the summer of 2023, she interned at Spicer Art Conservation in Delmar, NY where she focused on textile conservation treating a flag from the women’s suffrage movement. Currently, Sara is a third-year intern at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia where she is furthering her textile conservation studies.
Madison Whitesell
Madison attended James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, VA where she earned a BA in studio art and art history with a concentration in museum studies. While at JMU, she held positions at the Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Arts, the Visual Resources Center, and the preservation and special collections department of the Carrier Library. Madison was also a conservation technician at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD and a studio assistant at Brydgeworks Glass Studio in Harrisonburg, VA where she taught stained glass workshops. During the summer of 2023, she completed a graduate summer internship in textiles conservation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Madison is spending her third year of graduate studies interning at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in the objects conservation lab.
Grace Wilkins
Grace began her undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and transferred to Brown University in Providence, RI where she graduated with a BS in neuroscience. She was a pre-program intern at Gawain Weaver Art Conservation in Lagunitas, CA where she focused on photograph conservation. Grace was also a pre-program intern at the Brooklyn Museum where she was selected as the museum’s 2020 Citi Intern in Conservation in addition to spending time at The Conservation Center in Chicago, IL. During the summer of 2023, she completed an internship in objects conservation at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and is currently a third-year intern in objects conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in the decorative arts and sculpture conservation department.