Me and my team presenting about a literature review I cowrote about my favorite subject, tortoises, on my 23rd birthday
Originally from San Diego, I moved to Santa Cruz a year ago to study ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. During the past year, I began working as a STEM tutor for UCSC's ACE program and joined the Kelley computational genomics lab.
I am now looking to begin the first steps of my professional career by applying to PHD programs. Through my studies, I have developed a passion for community ecology and hope to do research on the ecological impact of Desert tortoises and other herpetofauna on desert communities as well as modeling the changes desert communities will go through due to global climate change. I hope my research can be useful for the conservation of these species and desert communities as a whole.
As a proud father of two tortoises, I would describe myself as a turtle enthusiast and changed my major from computer science to ecology when I found out I could study tortoises as a career. I love to rock climb, hike, and exercise in the outdoors when I am not studying for classes. I absolutely love teaching and hope to eventually become a professor to unite my love for investigating the cryptic world of chelonians with my passion for teaching. As a transfer student I got a small taste of the many barriers students from underserved backgrounds face in higher education and hope I can do my part in making higher education more equitable and accessible for students of all backgrounds.Â
A fish out of water or in my case a tortoise out of the desert. This was my first time going deep off trail in a non desert ecosystem at Yosemite national park.
