About me
I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California Santa Cruz in the Beltran Lab and Kilpatrick Lab. I received my Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology under the advisement of Dr. Dan Costa. My research predominantly explores how body size influences life history, reproductive success, and population dynamics; however, I also have an interest in applied science and use quantitative methods to explore mitigation of anthropogenic and environmental disturbance to marine life.
I began my scientific career as an undergraduate student at Gettysburg College, where I studied Environmental Science and Biology. As a student I became involved in numerous research projects, including ecotoxicology impacts on marine life and conservation and management of wild dolphin populations. These research experiences led me to pursue a career in science.
After graduating from Gettysburg College, I took a year off to travel and conduct research in amazing places like Croatia and Puerto Rico before obtaining my Master’s degree in Marine Science at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University with the Thorne Lab. Here, I studied the thermal ecology of pilot whales and constructed a morphologically accurate 3D model of these animals to explore the relationship between body size and ecogeographic rules. These research experiences led me to the Wildlife Conservation Society where I worked with their Ocean Giants team to create automated detectors for marine life in the New York Harbor.
I then left New York for the sunny state of California, where I studied the bioenergetic costs of growth investment, as well as the fitness consequences, life history impacts, and trade-offs associated with variable growth investment and deviation from age-expected body size in harbor porpoises and elephant seals with Dr. Dan Costa during my Ph.D.
I’m currently exploring the ecological and evolutionary drivers of variability in body size across taxa, as well as the performance consequences of deviation from age-expected body size in northern elephant seals.
Throughout my endeavors in science, I have dedicated an immense amount of time to outreach and education. I have taught in a variety of capacities as an environmental educator, science tutor, and teaching assistant and have loved all of these opportunities equally. I strive to improve STEM retention and access to science by uncovering the hidden curriculum of academia, providing early research opportunities for young scientists, and adapting anti-racist teaching interventions in my teaching and mentorship practices.