I
grew up in the suburb of Lacey, WA and have always loved
the ocean and traveling. My mom, dad, older brother
and I vacationed in Hawai'i and the Florida Keys, where
scuba diving and small hikes to vistas fueled my interest
in the marine environment. My high school Spanish courses
provided the opportunity to travel to Europe and Costa
Rica, which solidified my interest in international
travel.
As
an undergraduate, I attended the University of Puget
Sound (UPS) and focused my studies on organisms, ecosystems
and their interactions. I also studied biogeography
and biodiversity conservation while in Adelaide, South
Australia for a semester. It was in Australia that I
first became aware of the significant role which seabirds
play in the marine environment and their extensive annual
migrations.
After
finishing my bachelor's degree and a senior research
thesis, I sought research experience combining my love
of the ocean with seabirds. I have since worked with
Blue-footed Boobies on Isla Isabel, Mexico, Pink-footed
Shearwaters in the Juan Fernández Islands, Chile,
and a variety of species on Southeast Farallon Island,
central California.
My
research at HPU involved modeling the habitat use and
dispersion of Black-footed Albatross in Cordell Bank
and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries
using vessel survey data from Applied California Current
Ecosystem Studies (ACCESS)
partnership cruises during the post-breeding season
using vessel survey and tagging data from 2004-2008.
In a research collaboration associated with my Nancy
Foster Scholarship, I evaluated the overlap of telemetry
locations of Black-footed Albatross with longline and
trawl landing receipt data from the California coast.
My
research interests are based in ecological research
that can be directly applied to the sustained use and
conservation of marine ecosystems, particularly those
used by Procellariiformes and other far-ranging species.
I defended my MSMS on May 2011:
After
graduating from HPU, I was awarded a Sea Grant Knauss
fellowship in marine policy and spent a year in
Washington D.C.
Learn more about the Knauss Fellowship
I attended the the University of Tasmania from 2013
to 2017, where I completed a Ph.D. in Quantitative Marine
Science.
My thesis focused on fisheries interactions, fleet-behavior,
seabird population dynamics, bycatch, and climate change.