About Me

I am motivated  by questions about the functional morphology of marine invertebrates and seek to employ interdisciplinary approaches to study the form, function, and environment interactions of organisms living in dynamic marine habitats. 

My work focuses on the functional morphology of sea urchins, ecologically important occupants of a variety of marine habitats ranging from wave-swept shores to the deep sea. Specifically, I am interested in investigating the functional morphology of sea urchin tube feet, small adhesive appendages responsible for attachment, locomotion, and grazing. Tube feet play an important role in sea urchin survival and their various, unexplored anatomical specializations may provide unique avenues for bioinspired design. I seek to answer questions addressing 1) the impact of morphological variation on tube foot performance across variable substrates and 2) the effect of environmentally relevant conditions (e.g. temperature, salinity, wave exposure) on tube feet functionality and their anatomy.

I am currently a  Ph.D. student at Syracuse University in the Garner Lab for Animal Mechanics and Morphology.