I am a quantitative marine ecologist. I was born in North Dakota and grew up in Minnesota, pretty much as far from the ocean as you can get in this country.  I fell in love with marine biology when I was 12 and read "The Sea Around Us" by Rachel Carson.  I first saw the ocean when I was 14 when my family took a vacation to Florida, and we spent a day at the beach at Cape Canaveral. I didn't see the ocean again until I was in college and I studied abroad in Costa Rica and the Turks and Caicos Islands. I haven't looked back since.  I have studied marine invertebrates, fishes and sea turtles and worked in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and temperate and tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean.  I am most passionate about finding solutions to marine conservation problems.  I am motivated and inspired by recent conservation success stories, such as the green sea turtles in Hawaii and Florida, sea otters in the northeastern Pacific, and humpback whales in many parts of its range.  But many more species are at risk of extinction and even more no longer contribute to their ecosystems in ecologically meaningful ways.  What can we learn from species and communities in recovery to apply to those still at risk?  How do we determine when a species is truly recovered?  With climate change, will recovery trends be perpetuated?  These are big and important questions, and we need creative and innovative tools and approaches to address them. We also need to improve how we communicate science to the public.  As a population modeller, I am dedicated to improving how we distill complex analyses and models into basic simple components.  We must improve how we tell the stories of ecology so that people understand the urgency and necessity for change.

"In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught"
 - Baba Dioum 1968

Education

Oregon State University (2016)                 
Ph.D., Fisheries Science
Dissertation: “Quantitative Tools for Monitoring Strategy Evaluation and Assessment of Sea Turtle Populations”

University of South Florida (2006)
M.S. Coastal Marine Ecology
Thesis: “Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Feeding and Food in Three Species of Mellitid Sand Dollars”

University of Minnesota (2002)
B.S. Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Thesis: “Ontogenetic Shifts in Habitat Preference of the Queen Conch, Strombus gigas”
 
School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies (2001)

Professional Appointments

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of West Florida (2017 - present)

Postdoctoral Researcher, Vantuna Research Group, Occidental College (2016 – 2017) Vantuna Research Group

E-campus Instructor & Teaching Assistant, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 - 2016): Endangered Species, Society, and Sustainability, Population Dynamics, Ecological Restoration, Field Sampling

NOAA - Sea Grant Population Dynamics Fellow, Oregon State University (2012 - 2015)

Dimensions of Biodiversity Research Assistant, Oregon State University (2011 - 2012)  Dr. Selina Heppell

Marine Fisheries Analyst, Marine Resources Program, Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (2010 - 2011)  ODFW

Biologist, Fish and Wildlife Health, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (2008 - 2010)  FWRI

Adjunct Instructor, Hillsborough Community College (2007 - 2008); Environmental Science, Human Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory I, Diet and Nutrition

Adjunct Instructor, Pasco-Hernando State College (2007 - 2008); Introduction to Oceanography, Introduction to Environmental Science, Introduction to Biology

Instructor, Science Center of Pinellas County (2007)

Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of South Florida (2004 - 2006): Introduction to Biology I and Introduction to Biology II

Marine Science Instructor, Seacamp Association, Inc. (2002)