I spent my larval (a term that was coined, in this context, by Jim Carlton) life history in Vermont. The streams and beaver ponds of the National Forest behind my parents' house started my fascination with aquatic ecosystems. Dr. Trish Hansen, VT State Entomologist (and mother of my childhood bff Lena Curtis), brought us out with butterfly nets and magnifying glasses. I still remember the magical realization that ponds and streams contained diverse aquatic inhabitants, both invertebrate and vertebrate, worthy of long hours of exploration.
Over my subsequent life history, I was introduced to academic research first as a research technician for the inimitable Sallie Sheldon, studying biocontrol of invasive watermilfoil in ponds and lakes around VT, and the effects of nutrient enrichment (using N isotopic tracers) on diatom community composition at the Plum Island LTER in MA. After that--and many great audio books 'read', and snapping turtles avoided while driving across the State of Vermont and snorkeling in its lakes and ponds, respectively--I was introduced to marine research. I had the opportunity to conduct research at sea while working in Jon Grabowski's Benthic Ecology Lab at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (now Jon is at Northeastern University). I still rely on concepts I learned as an intern in Jon's lab. I organized (and read!) actual printed-out copies of many academic papers to categorize them into a database program, a task that forced me to read scientific literature as a college sophomore. But my primary internship responsibilities consisted of identifying prey items of juvenile cod stomachs from a Closed Area in the Gulf of Maine. Stomach content analysis is messy, and it was in this task that I learned about the power of otoliths. We used Steve Campana's 'otolith bible' to identify fish prey items that were too well-digested (as I mentioned, it was messy) for positive identification in stomach contents. Because otolith shape is diagnostic of fish species, especially in the relatively species-depauperate Gulf of Maine (it is a different story in the Caribbean or Indo-Pacific), otoliths came to the rescue and enabled identification of prey items (then, as now but for different reasons).
As a student at William-Mystic, in between Cannery Row-inspired beer floats with classmates, I learned that interdisciplinary, immersive education was a fun and effective way to learn. I caught the 'bug' (or maybe barnacle) for maritime history, and for finding 'the threads that bind' (another quote from Jim Carlton, the now-director-emeritus of W-M) across marine policy, maritime literature, and marine ecology. The synthesis-focused, interdisciplinary approach to learning that I experienced at Williams-Mystic is also what I enjoy most about my current research. The interdisciplinary approach forms the basis of my teaching philosophy, too.
As a research technician in the Baxter Lab at Idaho State University after graduating from Colby College, I assisted with multiple PhD projects focused on biogeochemistry and fish production in rivers and streams of Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington State. I audited Madeleine Mineau's Biogeochemistry course and never could have imagined it was a foreshadowing of my PhD life only three years later. In between, however, I worked as a research technician in Rob Campbell's Lab studying juvenile fish production in the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound (Cordova, AK), and monitored harmful algal blooms and water quality at the Shaw Institute (Blue Hill, Maine). I also worked in NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) as an At-Sea Monitor out of Gloucester, MA.
In graduate school in the Ward Lab and Sigman Lab in the Geosciences Department at Princeton University, I ended up shifting trophic levels from phytoplankton to fish, and migrating from subtropical (Bermuda Atlantic Time Series, or BATS) to high latitude (Iceland) and temperate coastal marine ecosystems (Gulf of Maine and U.S. Mid-Atlantic Bight). Despite initially starting two PhD projects, one on marine phytoplankton and one on otoliths, the otoliths 'won' (I still love phytoplankton, as anyone with my personal email address will know). My latitudinal migration continued to tropical marine ecosystems while based at the O'Dea Lab at STRI for my MarineGEO postdoctoral fellowship, and now in the Finnegan Lab at UC Berkeley for my current postdoctoral research, still focused on the Caribbean.
My 'biography' above, which I originally drafted for a MarineGEO newsletter, turned into a show-and-tell of mentors. Mentoring matters! Each of the people above are great educators from whom I have learned tons. They are also all people with diverse interests and experiences who make science fun.
Non-academic bio:
I love playing soccer, watching soccer, and (before the pandemic) lifting weights, which apparently has been replaced (during/ after the pandemic) with birding, newt-ing, and propagating an indoor rainforest of jade plants, pothos, and crotons (euphorbs).
