I am a postdoctoral research associate in the ​Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. My research contributes to the U.S. National Science Foundation's Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research program (VCR LTER) and I am part of the Seagrass Research Group and McGlathery Coastal Resilience Lab. I am also a member of the VCR LTER DEI Committee.   

I received my Ph.D. in Marine Ecology in 2019 from Deakin University, Australia, as a founding member of the Blue Carbon Lab, while also teaching undergraduate laboratory classes, volunteering as a scientific diver with the local marine parks department, and running a departmental writing group.

I completed my M.S. in Biological Sciences (with distinction) in 2013 through Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo's, Center for Coastal Marine Sciences as a San Luis Obispo Science and Ecosystem Alliance (SLOSEA) Fellow. During my tenure as a masters student, I also worked with the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program, maintained long-term water quality monitoring stations in Morro Bay, worked as a volunteer scientific diver on a subtidal research project, and taught undergraduate laboratory classes.
​
I received my B.S. in Biological Sciences (magna cum laude), with a concentration in marine biology and fisheries, from Cal Poly in 2008. During this time, I worked as an undergraduate researcher studying marine invertebrates at Cal Poly, and completed a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, College of William and Mary, studying seagrass benthic ecology.