From as early as I can remember, my happiest memories have always been outside, in nature. As a kid I devoured National Geographic and Nova programs, lusting after the wild places they depicted. My heroes were Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey and I marveled at the wildlife they brought into my living room. If you had asked me then, I would have told you that I wanted to be a primatologist (or a famous actress), and soon after that it was big cats that I couldn’t get enough of. But it wasn’t until high school, when my acumen in biology landed me an internship opportunity at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, that the marine world captured my interest.
I attended Penn State University as an undergrad, gaining research experience in a physiological ecology lab. After graduation, I spent the bulk of my twenties exploring conservation-oriented career paths in science education, wildlife research, and animal husbandry- and living life to the fullest! My escapades took me all across the country, and I discovered new people and ecosystems everywhere I went. Over time, though, my passion for research led me to graduate school and I earned my MSc at Alaska Pacific University studying the vocal repertoires of Bigg’s killer whales in western Alaska.
I am currently a PhD student at the University of Victoria, researching the impacts of vessel noise on ringed seals in the western Canadian Arctic. When I am not doing science, you can find me curling (winter & fall), floating rivers with friends (summer), or reading dystopian sci-fi novels for my favorite book club.
