Assistant Professor

O'Neill 207c

sbtraiger@alaska.edu

(907) 474-5133

(she/her)

I am an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. My research centers on coastal marine macroalgal and benthic invertebrate communities. My aim is to understand how multiple stressors and disturbances affect abundance and distribution of species and their interactions. I am particularly focused on strongly interacting species such as sea otters and sea stars, habitats including kelp forests and mussel beds, and taxa that are important for Alaskan communities such as clams.

I grew up in Los Angeles and became interested in marine biology when I started scuba diving as a teenager. I moved to Fairbanks for graduate school in 2012. After completing my PhD in 2017, I did a postdoc at California State University Northridge, then moved to Juneau to work for the U. S. Geological survey for 6 years before beginning my position at UAF. My husband also works for UAF, at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. We have two kids, both born in Juneau and a cat named Toasty.