About

One of my first memories is leaning over the edge of the dock at the marina, poking plumed anemones and watching in amazement as they closed up in the blink of an eye. My grandfather sat next to me and explained that I could study and work with sea creatures as a career. It was then I knew that I wanted to work with aquatic animals for the rest of my life.

I aspire to be an informative and engaging professor, who meets people at their level to help them learn. One facet of this has been volunteering as a mentor to struggling students and as an educator to the general public at the Seattle Aquarium; within academia, I have privately mentored both undergraduate and graduate students in wet lab methods. As a part of the Biological Sciences program at UB, I work roughly twelve hours a week as a Teaching Assistant to undergraduates; I have taught three courses: Evolutionary Biology Laboratory,  Biochemistry Laboratory, and Developmental Biology. I am currently enrolled in the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) program, which helps future faculty become better and more inclusive teachers. I have also participated in ComSciCon, a workshop series organized by graduate students, for graduate students, focused on science communication skills. I just recently started volunteering for Pre-scientist, a non-profit that works to demystify STEM careers and empower students to see themselves as future scientists by promoting personal connections between students from high-poverty schools and current scientists.

As a graduate student and future leader in genomics, it is my foremost goal to inspire others to be their true selves. When I first started at UB, a nonbinary PhD candidate took me under their wing and helped me realize that it is okay to openly identify as LGBTQ+ in academia. I am committed to being myself in academia, and want my story of disability and imposter syndrome to lead others who feel as if they do not belong in the academic world to instead follow their dreams. I want to be the person my grandfather was to me; to sit with you and say that you can be anything through hard work. It is important to me to promote the acceptance of non- conventional and neuro-diverse thought processes and learning methods. As a person with dyslexia, my brain is wired differently from others’. I have found ways to work with my disability, and these detours from conventional pathways have brought me to new ideas, connections, and concepts that most people cannot fathom. I represent these values as an Arthur A. Schomburg Fellow through academic excellence as a diverse graduate student researcher at the University at Buffalo, and will continue to do so.

Education

PhD in Science, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

Evolutionary Genomics and Epigenetics: From Spiders to Polyploid Vertebrates

August 2025

GPA: 3.88

Bachelor of Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Aquatics and Fisheries

June 2017

GPA: 3.28