Hometown: Whittier, California

Undergraduate Degree & Program: University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

At UC Santa Cruz, I worked in a plethora of labs to explore my research interests. The disciplines I have experience with are: genetics, plant pathology, and molecular ecology. I completed an undergraduate research thesis using environmental DNA (eDNA) to understand how the 2018 Woolsey fire impacted the Santa Monica Mountains community dynamics like ecological succession. I assisted with multiple projects while working as an active member in the CALeDNA program. I was inspired to pivot fields in my third year after taking Mark Carr’s Marine Ecology course at UCSC. It was my first marine ecology course and I was hooked! I attempted to assist one of Dr. Carr’s graduate students on their Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD) project when COVID-19 struck and I was unable to receive my AAUS diving certification or participate in the research. Once I graduated from my undergraduate program at UCSC, I worked as the Plant-Fungus Laboratory Technician at UCSC’s Gilbert Lab where I published my first paper! After this role, I knew microbiology was not for me so I  did some research on marine eDNA since I love SCUBA diving and the field is so unique!

I’m a second year in the Invertebrate Ecology lab at Moss Landing and the Coastal Ecology Lab at CSUMB. I’m co-advised by Alison Haupt and Amanda Kahn. Over this summer, I was selected for the competitive position of MBARI’s Summer 2024 Environmental DNA Intern.  I also led an experiment in the aquarium room to understand how density and temperature influences juvenile Pycnopodia helianthoides survivorship and development. For my masters thesis, I will be collaborating with MBARI to enhance PISCO kelp forest surveys through eDNA metabarcoding. At Hopkins Marine Station, I will dive the kelp forests on a monthly basis to compare the species captured through PISCO’s visual SCUBA surveys and the community captured through eDNA. We are hopeful that pairing these survey methods will increase the number of taxa observed and the overall effectiveness of these intensive surveys.

In my free time, I like to: read on the beach, spend time with my cat Pepper, go scuba diving, or drive up to Santa Cruz or San Francisco!!