I am currently a PhD candidate and NSF-GRFP Fellow in Dr. Santiago Herrera's research lab at Lehigh University. My research has brought me to hydrothermal vents in the Eastern Pacific and to mesophotic and deep-sea coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico and the greater Caribbean. I use various genomic methods to study the dispersal, recruitment, and connectivity of benthic invertebrates. 

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I grew up in metro Detroit and later moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to attend Northern Michigan University, where I studied ecology and mathematics. Upon graduation, I was a guest student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where I fell in love with larval ecology and the deep sea. Conducting science at great depths requires creativity and an understanding of electronics, and I was fortunate to gain robotics skills as a laboratory technician at Harvard University. 

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Throughout my graduate education, I hope to make STEM education more equitable by holding universities accountable for becoming anti-racist institutions. I also aim to bring the ocean to young aspiring scientists in land-locked regions of the US.

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My blog serves as a window into life as a budding marine biologist and a way to share my journey through graduate school.

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CV

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