About me

Background

I grew up on the Central Coast of California and entered my undergraduate career at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota as a mathematics major. However, after taking a geology course to fulfill a requirement and going on my first geology field trip, I realized that if I had the chance to pursue a career where I got to explore the outdoors, I was going to take it. After getting back from this fieldtrip I changed my major to geology and never looked back!

During my time at Macalester I focused my studies on paleontology, finding a particular interest in taphonomy, ichnology, and paleoecology. In pursuit of these interests, I came to UC Riverside to study the taphonomy and paleoecology of the Ediacaran organism Funisia dorothea in 2018. I completed my Master's degree in the Spring of 2020 followed by my PhD in Spring 2024. My doctoral research focused on elucidating both the global and local records of the Ediacaran tubular morphogroup through database generation and analysis as well as detailed biostratinomic investigation. 

Education 

University of California, Riverside   |   Doctor of Philosophy in Earth Science           

 July 2020 – May 2024

  Dissertation Title: Investigation of the Global Record, Taphonomy, Paleobiology, and Paleoecology of the Ediacaran Tubular Morphogroup

University of California, Riverside   |   Master of Science in Earth Sciences                  

July 2018 – June 2020

Thesis Title: Biological and Ecological Insights from the Preservational Variability of Funisia dorothea, Ediacara Member, South Australia

Macalester College, St. Paul, MN   |   Bachelor of Arts in Geology                                 

September 2014 – May 2018

Honors Thesis Title: Taphonomy of a Vertebrate Microfossil Bonebed in the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana – A Comparative Approach