Bio
Florida Aquarium, Turtle Rehabilitation Center
Apollo Beach, FL, 2022 
New England Aquarium, 2024
Marine Quest Fish Dissection and Aging Lesson, 2024
NOAA R/V Pisces, SEFIS Cruise
Morehead City, NC, 2022 
Beaufort, NC Mardi Gras parade
Beaufort Lions Club, 2022 
Sea turtle patch lesson, Girl Scout Troop 366
Carolina Beach, NC, 2024 
Mentoring undergraduate researcher, Hailee Reinke, and early-college high school senior, Manel Hizoum, in the mounting and imaging of stained sea turtle bone sections for age estimation.
UNCW, RMD Bio-Imaging facility, 2024 
Femme in STEM at the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher, 2024
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Hi again! Thanks for being interested in my nerdy background! 😁
I am originally from Sykesville, MD, but have spent the last decade within the Carolinas. Growing up in MD, I was truly (and proudly still am) a nerd: finding comfort in nature, seeking out extracurricular educational opportunities outside of basketball, and appreciating all biology dissections. In fourth grade, I recorded my top 3 career choices as 1) a WNBA player like Lisa Leslie, 2) a Marine Biologist like Jacques Cousteau, and 3) a Zoologist like Steve Irwin. I was inspired to work with animals and actively participate in the conservation of endangered species. My passion for science and conservation work grew throughout high school. In my sophomore year of high school, I was accepted into the Student Summer Internship Program at the National Aquarium in Baltimore as a student volunteer. In this program, I learned A LOT about the animals within the exhibits, the habitats represented, and a lot about the conservation message each exhibit encompassed. For the remainder of high school, I proceeded to become an Adult Volunteer and then a Membership Salesperson at the aquarium until I left for college. On a scholarship through the Academic Common Market (in-state tuition recipient because MD did not have a Marine Science program), I headed to the University of South Carolina, Columbia (USC) to study Marine Science. At USC, I thrived in the Marine Science program, meeting wonderful peers who became my best friends and networking with passionate professors. Throughout my undergrad, I became an Animal Programs Intern at the National Aquarium in Baltimore for two summers, a Resident Assistant for the Marine Science Common Courses, an NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholar (interning at the NOAA Beaufort Lab studying hawksbill sea turtle life history), the Maine-mester coordinator, President of SEAS (Students Engaged in Aquatic Sciences), an undergraduate researcher in the Speiser Lab, and ending as an Accelerated Master’s student. In Dr. Dan Speiser’s Lab, I started exploring the visual capabilities of a marine clam, the Atlantic cockle. Yet as typical research goes, my interests changed and I ran with a lead that conch could regenerate eyes. After a few preliminary experiments, I chose to research eye regeneration in the Florida fighting conch using both molecular and behavioral tools to assess the restoration of visual performance throughout the process.In 2018, I officially departed USC with a B.S. and M.S. in Marine Science, both with an emphasis in Biological Oceanography, and with leadership distinction in research. Fortunately, there was a position opening in the same lab where I interned as a NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholar in 2016, at the NOAA Beaufort, NC Laboratory. I started as a Fisheries Biologist II with the Protected Resources Branch (PRB), studying sea turtle life history by estimating age, like counting tree rings, in histologically processed sea turtle humerus bones (skeletochronology). I also assisted with field work for 1) acoustic array maintenance to assess radio-tagged turtle movements within Core Sound, NC, 2) tangle-net captures to assess local sea turtle habitat usage within Back Sound and Cape Lookout, NC, 3) by-catch reduction research using light and sound deterrents for reducing sea turtle bycatch in NC pound net fisheries, and 4) leatherback capturing and satellite tagging along migratory routes (all research conducted under NMFS ESA Permit 21233, issued to NMFS SEFSC). Due to insecure funding in the PRB, I transitioned to studying fish age estimation in 2020 on the Fisheries Biology and Life History Branch. In this new position, I learned how to 1) estimate age in histologically processed fish otoliths (inner ear bones used for sound and balance) for species assessments (still similar to counting tree rings), 2) configure size-at-age data for species assessments (submitted Atlantic Gray Snapper data to the SEDAR75, Gulf of Mexico Gray Snapper Species Assessment), and 3) predict age from known-age spectral signatures using Fourier Transform Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (FT-NIRS). I was able to go on three (supposed to be four) Southeast Fishery Independent Survey (SEFIS) cruises, where I perfected my otolith extraction and fish dissection skills to gather biological tissues for species assessments. Learn about my NOAA research, my background, and my fieldwork adventures within my NOAA Spotlight Story HERE. When deciding to leave my position as a University of Miami, CIMAS, Senior Research Associate II, I knew my curiosities and research interests leaned towards protected species research and the possibility of using novel technologies to estimate age of live animals for conservation management strategies, thus, I knew I wanted to go back for my Ph.D. While working towards my Ph.D. in Marine Biology at UNCW, I aspire to gain analytical skills and apply them to conserving protected species. After my Ph.D., I aspire to work for NOAA Fisheries, employing validated age estimation tools in age-based species assessments, allowing for age data, and subsequently, management strategies, to be generated faster and more cost-efficiently than current methods (skeletochronology). During my first few years at UNCW, I have greatly contributed to protocol creation, personnel training (UG, G, and Fac), equipment setup/maintenance, and inventory organization and cataloguing. I am currently co-mentoring 4 students (officially): 1) Andrew Horstcamp- a work study student in inventory database creation, 2) Olivia Traham- a work study/ Honor's student in turtle skeletochronology, 3) Kira Stokoe - Honor's student in Kemp's ridley growth rate analyses, and 4) Manel Hizoum - an early-college Isaac Bear Early College High School in imaging of stained bone sections (final step of skeletochronology) in UNCW's RMD Bio-Imaging Facility. I thoroughly enjoy mentorship as I believe it is my way to pay forward my knowledge, experiences, and connections for the benefit of future scientists. I am dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion to improve diverse representation within STEM fields because everyone deserves equal opportunities to achieve their dreams. I also strongly believe that science and education go hand in hand; teaching others about the importance of science is my most cherished element and devotion as a marine scientist. CV TikTok |