Ph.D. , University of Miami (2011- 2016)

I am currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Miami’s Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, an interdisciplinary graduate research program focusing on generating science that helps advance conservation policy. I started in the fall of 2011 and graduated in 2016.

My lab is the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program, led by my adviser, Dr. Neil Hammerschlag. Our lab aims to use cutting-edge science to answer pressing questions in marine conservation, and to advance ocean literacy among community members.

Masters, College of Charleston (2008-2011)

I received my Masters in Marine Biology from the Grice Marine Laboratory at the College of Charleston (Charleston, SC), where my adviser was Dr. Gorka Sancho. My Masters thesis focused on using non-lethal stable isotope analysis to determine the feeding ecology of a local shark species, the sandbar shark.

Undergraduate, Duke University (2003-2007)

I received my Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Biology from Duke University in 2007. My undergraduate adviser was Dr. Dan Rittschoff of the Duke University Marine Laboratory, where I spent two semesters.  My Distinction Thesis focused on the electroreception abilities of a local species of ray. I also minored in History.