As a Ph.D. student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), my research interests in ecology largely center around community assembly processes and food web structure. The main project I work on currently focuses on how these phenomena vary in stream fish communities spanning a sharp rainfall gradient along the Texas coastal plain. Ultimately, this research aims to use a space-for-time perspective to understand how riverine communities may respond to future climate change-mediated shifts in precipitation patterns.
Having begun my Ph.D. at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, I’ve been fortunate to become familiar with the marine and coastal stream communities of the Texas Gulf Coast—but my interest in aquatic ecology began in the lakes and rivers of Wisconsin. I cultivated this passion from an early age, snorkeling spring-fed lakes in the Chequamegon National Forest, before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and environmental science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Completing my Master’s degree in freshwater science and technology (benthic ecology) at the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences and working as a technician in a fisheries ecology lab at the same institute took me to conduct research in coastal Lake Michigan, Green Bay, the Upper Mississippi River, trout streams in western Michigan, and Laguna Bacalar in southern Quintana Roo, Mexico. As an avid diver, both for research and recreation, I’ve been fortunate to have been able to explore many of the places listed above from below the surface. I’ve also spent time working as a professional divemaster in the Mexican Caribbean, and more recently as an AAUS scientific diver at TAMUCC and VIMS.
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunities to work for a number of labs and agencies as a technician, research associate, and graduate researcher, including the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Great Lakes WATER Institute, and the Life Sciences Department at TAMUCC. I’ve also taught ecology-focused laboratory courses at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI, and lead or participated in a number of volunteer and outreach activities.
One of my major drivers as an ecologist in training, at the advice of a major professional mentor, is to “keep exploring”—both in the physical worlds beneath the waves, and in my own mind as new scientific questions arise. It’s safe to say this is a tenet I hope to pass on to those I might mentor in the future.
Professional Profiles: