Lauren graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Aquatic Biology and a minor in French in 2013. During her undergraduate studies, Lauren worked with the PISCO Lab at UCSB conducting sub-tidal surveys and analyzing data collected to measure fish recruitment in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Since graduating, she has worked extensively in the Marine Science Institute at UCSB conducting oil platform surveys and participating in invasive species removal experiments at Catalina Island. Lauren worked as a member of the Caselle Lab (PISCO) from 2013 – 2017, helping to organize and conduct sub-tidal surveys of invertebrates, algae, and fish of the near-shore kelp forests as well as inter-tidal surveys in the Santa Barbara Channel. Recently, Lauren participated in an expedition to conduct baseline surveys of the island archipelago of Tonga.
Lauren joined the Ichthyology Lab at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in Fall 2017 as a student of CSUMB and NOAA’s Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems. Her thesis will focus on community assemblages of understudied portions of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary that are located between 20 and 40 meters depth.
Lauren is also a Santa Barbara County Lifeguard, Junior Lifeguard Instructor, youth educator at the Hollister Ranch Tide Pool School. She also spent 4 years directing a non-profit swim program serving at-risk youth in the Santa Barbara area.