I received my PhD at the University of Maine Marine Biology program.  My interests are focused on conservation ecology of aquatic species.  These include habitat use, population dynamics, ecosystem services and life histories of non-game species.

When studying environmental science at Georgia College and State University, I had the fortune to work with the invertebrate underdogs, crayfish, and garnered a passion for the aquatic realm.  I then moved on to a M.S. position studying crayfish, freshwater mussels, and fiddler crabs at Auburn University.  Upon graduation, I worked as a large river ecologist for the Missouri Dept. of Conservation on several projects including habitat use and survivorship of the endangered Pallid sturgeon on the Missouri River.  My time focused in freshwater led me to long for the salt air, and I am now working on my PhD studying Shortnose an Atlantic sturgeon under the direction of Gayle Zydlewski’s lab.  My work will utilize capture-recapture methods to ascertain population sizes, health, dynamics, and habitat preferences of these endangered species.