I am an Ecologist, Marine Biologist, and Parasitologist, studying the effects of sub-lethal parasitic infection on aquatic mammals (otters and mink). A euro-mexican American, I was born and raised in Orange County, California. I grew up in an evangelical, conservative christian community, was homeschooled through elementary school before finally going to public High School. I attended a well known private christian University where I would have been expelled if I was openly gay. I was sent to conversion therapy when I was 13, and spent my adolescence and early adult life trying desperately not to be gay because that is what my faith, family, and community told me I had to do. I finally realized after graduating with my bachelors in biology, that praying the gay away would never work; and if I kept going down that path I wouldn't survive. So I left the church, accepted myself, and lost pretty much everyone in my life.

I moved to Santa Cruz California because I had always wanted to work in sea otter research, but with so many bible classes on my transcript, and no financial stability (it was the middle of a recession), I found it hard to get into a graduate program. I had no health insurance, worked paycheck to paycheck, and was for a while very close to homelessness. I worked in the service industry, retail, event planning; all while working for free with multiple groups to develop my resume, and network for a paid position. I volunteered in marine mammal rehabilitation, for the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sea Otter Research and Conservation program, and for the Tinker lab, University of California, Santa Cruz studying sea otters (as a field biologist intern doing radio telemetry in Big Sur, and later a lab assistant doing field work in the Elkhorn Slough and data management). But marine biology (especially sea otter research) is an extremely competitive field and after years working for free, I had to take a full time job teaching outdoor education to 5th and 6th graders. I never gave up the dream though, and eventually was accepted to a Master program in Germany, where I got to fulfill that dream, as my co-supervisor at the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (Dr. Ursula Siebert), funded my research to travel to California and Alaska to study the parasites of sea otters. Which I did, and completed my Masters thesis on. I was then accepted for a PhD program at the University of Alberta, where I am blessed to be currently.

I am a broadly trained physical geographer/geologist specializing in Quaternary palaeoecology. I study the ecological history of east Beringia (Yukon Territory and Alaska) through analysis of pollen, bones, insects and ancient DNA preserved in permafrost. I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland before moving to the central belt and subsequently completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh. Generally speaking, my queer identity (that I have now fully embraced) was low lying during my undergraduate degree due to an overall lack of exposure to queer individuals that have similar interests to me. This is part of why Kyle and I have started this series, to highlight the diversity of fellow queer individuals, an initiative that likely would have benefited my younger self. Either way, following my degree, I packed up my bag, accepted my offer to Brock University, and moved out to Canada. One of the best decisions I have made to date!

Now living in Alberta, I have been able to fully embrace the lifestyle that keeps me sane. Outside of my research, I am an avid runner, climber, folk musician, home cook and recently introduced to downhill skiing by my partner (and finally understand the obsession)! I’m still holding strong on refusing to work my weekends and have been finding myself exploring the Rocky Mountains, one of the real benefits of being situated in Alberta. Overall, I am very happy with where I am right now, both geographically, academically and personally, and I am so honoured to be part of a diverse and welcoming community that has been formed with Scientific QUEERies.