About Me

My interest in biology took off in high school when I volunteered at a local natural history museum. I received undergraduate degrees in Wildlife Ecology and Math from The University of Maine. There I studied local adaptation in guppies with Michael Kinnison. After that I worked several jobs in field ecology. I also served in the Peace Corps in Fiji as an environmental resource management advisor.  I completed my PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with Eric Palkovacs, where I studied the evolutionary ecology of threespine stickleback armor in dynamic bar-built estuary habitats. I'm now a postdoc at the University of Connecticut working on two projects. I originally came to work with Robert Bagchi and John Settlage on an NSF funded project using approaches from ecology to model retention and attrition of STEM teachers with an eye towards equity for both students and teachers. At UConn I've picked up another project working with Mark Urban to study strategies for using assisted gene flow to help populations adapt to climate change.

At all stages of my career I've worked hard to make my science accessible and available to the public, helping with educational projects, engaging with students, and giving talks to public groups.