Current Students
2029 Students
Madeline Ballou
Madeline graduated with a BFA in painting and a minor in art history from Pacific Lutheran University. She was a collection care specialist for the Asian collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA and was a preventive care assistant for Historic New England in South Berwick, ME. Prior to beginning her studies at Buffalo, she was a pre-program paper conservation intern at Williamstown Art Conservation Center in Williamstown, MA. Her pre-program experience ranges from cleaning historic houses, exhibition preparation, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), preventive, painting, and paper conservation. She is a current volunteer for the Emerging Conservation Professional Network (ECPN) as a professional education and training co-officer for the American Institution of Conservation.
Julienne I. Dawidoff
Julienne earned a BA in art history from the University of Southern California as well as a certificate in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute in London, England. Following this education, Julienne sought training as a furniture maker and was a two-year student at the Krenov School of Fine Woodworking in Fort Bragg, CA. She is a current board member of the Krenov Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the craft of fine woodworking in Northern California, and well as the current Emerging Conservation Professional Advisor for the American Institute for Conservation Wooden Artifacts Group. Julienne completed pre-program work in private practice in California and in the Wooden Objects Lab for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.
Megan E. Gunter
Megan earned a BA in chemistry and a minor in art history at Indiana University Bloomington. During her undergraduate studies, she gained pre-program experience at the Auxiliary Library Facilities (ALF) in Bloomington, where she treated historical documents and works of art on paper. She was also an undergraduate researcher in the Vázquez Research Group, where she investigated the creation of optical probes for DNA using organic synthesis, analytical chemistry, and spectroscopy.
Kay A. Horak
Kay completed pre-program internships at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, and with the National Park Service in Skagway, Alaska. Most recently, she worked in the Boston area as a collections maintenance technician at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and interned at Studio TKM Associates. She earned a BA from Smith College with a self-designed major in Art Conservation, minor in Mathematical Sciences, and concentration in Museum Studies. She also served as the Boston AIC ECPN Regional Liaison.
Leia M. Johnson
Leia earned a BS in Chemistry with minors in Studio Art and Art History at Converse University and a visual arts diploma from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. Leia gained pre-program experience as a two-year undergraduate paintings conservation intern at Crawford Conservation, Inc., then worked a one-year paintings conservation assistantship after graduation. At Crawford Conservation, Inc., Leia assisted with condition assessment and treatment of historic and contemporary paintings of oil, tempera, acrylic, and wall painting media. Leia has also participated in museum and gallery internships and worked as an art handler at a gallery local to upstate South Carolina.
Jasmine G. Keegan
Jasmine graduated with a BA in Art History from Oberlin College. As a fellow of the Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation program, she completed a summer internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since then, she has gained pre-program experience in New Haven, Connecticut at both the Yale Peabody Museum and Yale University Art Gallery. Right before coming to Buffalo, she was at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC as a conservation intern working to preserve their collection of elephant skulls. She is also an abstractor for Art and Archaeology Technical Abstract (AATA), a free online research database, as well as a program assistant for the Mellon Opportunity program, the same initiative that helped introduce her to the field.
Irving R. Plaza Fuentes
Irving earned a BA in Theory of Art from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and completed a Post-Baccalaureate in Art Conservation at Studio Arts College International in Florence, Italy. Prior to entering the Garman Art Conservation Department, he worked for four years as an art conservation assistant at the Museo de Arte de Ponce, where he gained experience in the examination, documentation, treatment, and preventive care of the museum’s collection. He also completed an objects conservation internship at the Art Institute of Chicago, contributing to the conservation of bronze and marble sculptures.
Eva L. Rando
Eva Rando graduated from The Ohio State University (OSU) with a BA in chemistry and minors in studio art, history of art, and French. She began gaining conservation experience while still a student at the OSU Libraries Conservation Unit. After graduation, she completed pre-program internships at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the Preservation Society of Newport County, and private practices. She previously served as the Emerging Conservation Professionals Regional Co-Liaison for Cleveland, Ohio, and she volunteered at the Redpath Museum in Montreal, Quebec, as part of the American Institute for Conservation’s Community Partnership Project at the 2026 Annual Meeting.
Amber N. Swanson
Amber earned a BA in Classical Studies with a concentration in Mediterranean archaeology and minors in archaeological science, art history, and chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to Buffalo, she spent four seasons with the Gordion Archaeological Project in Türkiye and completed a paper conservation internship at the Georgia Archives in Atlanta. She has also worked on the conservation of Roman mosaics with the Halewell Archaeological Project in Gloucestershire, England.
Lindsey Wavrek
Lindsey is a mixed media artist with a BFA in printmaking from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Pre-program, she worked as the Winterthur Museum's Conservation Assistant of Paper & Library Materials while also interning with Philadelphia-based independent painting conservator Carole Abercauph. Lindsey gained private practice experience treating mixed media objects as a Conservation Technician at Flux Art Conservation, and volunteered for 2-year terms as both the Senior Chair of the American Institute for Conservation's Equity & Inclusion Committee and as Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Area Conservation Association.
2028 Students
Leah Aretz
Leah graduated with a BS in conservation studies and fine arts from the Marist College Istituto Lorenzo de’Medici campus in Florence, Italy. Before starting her graduate studies, she lived in Philadelphia, where she was a conservation technician at Flux Art Conservation and was the preventive conservation intern, then a collection gallery maintenance technician at the Barnes Foundation. In addition, Leah volunteered with the non-profit PACA, the Philadelphia Area Conservation Association, as social media chair, increasing their engagement and planning events.
Barbara Chernyavsky
Barbara completed pre-program work in Philadelphia, PA, as a conservation technician at the Barnes Foundation and as a collections technician at the Atwater Kent Collection. While in Philadelphia, she earned a BS in a custom-designed major in foundations of art conservation at Drexel University. As a student, she worked as a collections assistant with the Fox Historic Costume Collection and the Founding Collection, assisting in the care and research of textile and fine arts collections. Before joining the program, she was the Treasurer of the Philadelphia Area Conservation Association.
Victoria Feliz
Victoria earned a BA in art history from the University at Buffalo and a BS in chemistry from the City College of New York, CUNY. Before starting her graduate studies, she lived in Saint Paul, MN, where she was a conservation technician at both the Science Museum of Minnesota and KCI Conservation in addition to interning in book and paper conservation at the Minnesota Historical Society. While in Saint Paul, Victoria also served as the ECPN (Emerging Conservation Professionals Network) Twin Cities Liason for the American Institute for Conservation.
Elise Halpin
Elise attended the University of Washington, where she earned a BA in art history, and also attended Skagit Valley College for an AA in the arts. She was a pre-program intern at both Landrieu Conservation and Lisa Duncan Art Conservator, LLC, in Seattle, WA, and also served as a curatorial intern at the Seattle Art Museum. While in Seattle, Elise was also a conservation intern with the Heritage Conservation Group, a visitor experience representative at the Seattle Art Museum, and a volunteer at both Davidson Galleries and the Association for Washington Archaeology.
Katherine Lathrop
Katharine spent several years working at Oliver Brothers Fine Art Restoration in Beverly, MA as their studio assistant, conservation technician, and then operational assistant before starting her graduate studies. She earned a BA in art history from Boston College and also studied at the La Sorbonne in Paris. Katharine was the education and permanent collections assistant at the McMullen Museum at Boston College and participated in a bookbinding course at the North Bennet Street School. She also completed an isinglass workshop at Harvard Art Museums.
Eleanor Lieberman
Eleanor comes to Buffalo from the Boston area where she went to Harvard College in Cambridge, earning an AB in psychology. She was a conservation intern at both Studio TKM in Cambridge and Windsor Conservation in Dover. Eleanor was also a summer intern at both the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. where she focused on outdoor sculptures and the Hagley Library in Wilmington, DE in addition to being a collections maintenance technician at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Alejandra Pasquel
Alejandra attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, where she earned a BA in art history and chemistry. While studying at Sarah Lawrence, she was also the layout and design editor for the Care and Climate Justice Catalog. Alejandra completed her pre-program work at the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in New York, NY as their conservation intern and research training fellow. In addition, she is a NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) certified peer educator having served on the residence life staff at Sarah Lawrence.
Sydney Pearce
Sydney was a conservation intern at the National Parks Service Historic Architecture, Conservation, and Engineering Center in Lowell, MA where they treated various objects from national parks, including the Morristown National Historical Park and Ellis Island. They earned a BA in art history from Mills College in Oakland, CA and worked as a gallery assistant and co-curator for an exhibit at the campus Art Museum. Sydney was also a Smithsonian CIBA intern at the National Museum of American History in the paper conservation lab.
Margaret Priest
Margaret attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville where she earned a BA in art history and was a lab assistant in the organic chemistry department. She studied abroad at the Institute for American Universitites in Aix-en-Provence, France where she was a McClinton Fellow. While in Asheville, Margaret also completed pre-program work at Elizabeth Sanchez Paintings Conservation, a private conservation practice, and was a collections intern at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center.
Olivia Thanadabout
Olivia was named a Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation Fellow and participated in a workshop at The Getty in Los Angeles and was a conservation intern at the Straus Center at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. She also gained pre-program experience as both an objects conservation and preventive conservation intern at the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis, MN. In addition, Olivia earned her BA in studio art from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT where she had a position at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.
2027 Students
Evelynn Bird
Evelynn earned a BA in art history and arts management from the University of San Francisco. She was a pre-program intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, where she treated indigenous objects. Evelynn held positions at Arte Americas in Fresno and Cross Museum Services in Washington, D.C. in addition to completing an apprenticeship program where she trained at the LA County Museum of Art, Academy Museum, LA County Arts, and Autry Museum. She spent her summer surveying baskets at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca, NY.
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. 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. This summer, she was a paintings conservation intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Eva Marie Fuchillo
Eva Marie attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA where they earned a BA and studied abroad in both New Zealand and Japan. Before coming to Buffalo, they held several pre- program positions in Philadelphia as a conservation technician at the Penn Museum of Archae- ology 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 and spent last summer interning at the Maine State Museum in Augusta treating the St. Mary shipwreck.
Rebecca Heyman
Rebecca recently returned from the Netherlands where she completed a summer internship in paintings conservation at the Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL). She has a BA in studio art, art history, and chemistry from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and was a pre-program lab assistant in the paintings conservation studio at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Rebecca was also a digital volunteer for the Smithsonian Archives, a volunteer at the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor, WA, and 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. She was also a pre-program intern at Studio TKM Associates in Somerville, MA where she focused on paper conservation. Further- more, Victoria spent time as a pre-program intern at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and earned a BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. She recently returned from Athens, Greece where she was an archaeological conservation intern at the ancient Agora.
Cindy Moreno
Cindy earned a BA in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles where she returned for a 2025 summer internship at UCLA Libraries. She was selected to participate in the Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation internship program at the Straus Center for Conservation at Harvard Museums followed by a position as a Getty post-baccalaureate conservation intern at both the J. Paul Getty Museum and then the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Cindy was also a pre-program Getty Conservation intern at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA.
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 as well. She completed pre-program internships in Minneapolis, MN at KCI Conservation and the Midwest Art Conservation Center in both objects and paintings conservation. Megan was also a conservation intern at the National Parks Service, Harpers Ferry Center, WV where she worked in five labs treating artifacts from nine National Park Service sites. This summer, she interned at the University of Iowa Libraries in book conservation.
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. Charlotte was also an art teacher 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. She spent her summer in Cleveland interning at ICA Art Conservation.
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, Berkele,y 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. She returned to D.C. this summer for an internship at Nishio Conservation Studio.
Samantha Tepper
Samantha was 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 at the Winterthur Museum. Before starting graduate school, Samantha was a conservation technician at The National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, NY and earned a BA in art history from The Pennsylvania State University. This summer, she interned at Scott Gerson Conservation in New York City in modern/contemporary art on paper.
2026 Students
Sam Ayvazian-Hancock
Sam earned a BA in ancient, medieval, and modern history from Durham University in the UK and a graduate diploma in conservation from West Dean College. She interned at the Redwood Library and was a collections care technician at the Newport Restoration Foundation, both in Newport, RI. Sam was also a conservation technician at the Weismann Preservation Center at Harvard University Libraries in Cambridge. Last summer, she interned at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia and is currently spending her third year at Dartmouth College Library in Hanover, NH.
Mackenzie Becker
Mackenzie attended Capital University in Columbus, OH where she earned a BA in art therapy and was a conservation technician at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. She was a conservation intern at Ruth Barach Cox Paintings Conservation and Duke University Libraries, both in Durham, NC. In addition, Mackenzie held positions at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami as both a preventative con- servation technician and conservation coordinator. She recently completed a summer internship at the Brooklyn Museum and is currently a third-year intern at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Elena Best
Elena completed a summer internship in objects conservation at the Field Museum in Chicago and is now a third-year intern in objects conservation there. She attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, where she earned a BFA in photography and 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, both 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. She is currently a third-year intern in photograph conservation at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
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 objects conservation labs. Stephanie has also worked as a Smithsonian digital volunteer and is a successful watercolor artist. She spent a summer as a paintings conservation intern at the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey and is now a third-year intern at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
Caitlin Green
Caitlin was a pre-program intern at The Preservation Society of Newport County in Newport, RI. 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 in Hartford and at Amann+Estabrook Conservation Assoc. in New York City. This year, she is a paintings conservation intern at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Greta Llanes Serrano
Greta earned a BFA in printmaking from The Cooper Union School of Art in New York, in addition to a certificate in bookbinding from The North Bennet Street School in Boston. Her pre-program experience includes conservation technician positions at both The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and The New-York Historical Society in Manhattan. Greta also completed summer graduate internships in objects conservation at the Brooklyn Museum, Whyrta, and the Preservation Society of Newport. She is currently a third-year objects conservation intern at The Frick Collection in New York.
Kelsey Marino
Kelsey attended the University of Delaware in Newark 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 and is spending her third year as a paintings conservation intern at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Katherine Miromonti
Katherine completed a summer internship at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis and is currently a third-year intern in book conservation at the Library of Congress. She attended the University of Denver earning a BFA in pre-art conservation and had pre-program positions as an IMLS intern at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and collections intern for Léo Marchutz’s catalogue raisonné in Aix-en- Provence. Katherine also had internships at Mountain States Conservation in Colorado Springs, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, and the University of Washington Libraries in Seattle.
Paola Valentin Irizarry
Paola is a third-year intern at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and earned a BA in the history of art from the University of Puerto Rico in addition to a graduate certificate in preservation from the University of Valencia. She was a pre-program intern at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, TX and held several positions at the Museum of History, Anthropology & Art at the University of Puerto Rico. Paola also had conservation internships at the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American History and spent a summer interning at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.