I am an Assistant Marine Scientist with the Marine Resources Division of South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources and part of the Population Genetics Research Group. My research addresses conservation and fisheries management questions in a range of marine and aquatic organisms. I'm particularly interested in understanding the interactions between genetic variation and physiological responses to the environment.
Improving open data access, reproducibility, and transparency in science is important to me, so I strive to publish primarily in open-access journals, host reproducible coding notebooks for published and ongoing work at my GitHub, and provide links to recent presentations and successful grant proposals on my CV. I'm also a co-founder of the MarineOmics working group (part of the RCN for Evolution in Changing Seas), which is working to disseminate robust genomic research practices and evaluate reproducibility in marine science.
I consider myself fortunate to have benefited from an early exposure to science, enthusiastic support systems, and strong female academic mentors. Many people are not afforded these advantages, so I strive to improve accessibility to science and science careers while promoting environmental stewardship. Some organizations I've worked with include Project Exploration's Sisters4Science, KICP's Life Long Learning program, and the University of Miami's Ocean Kids program.
When not playing with oyster (and now bass!) genes, I enjoy spending time with my family, running, yoga, reading sci-fi/fantasy, ceramics, and identifying species with my husband.
In May 2019 I had a stroke in my left parietal lobe, which temporarily affected movement and sensation on the right side of my body. My husband and I wrote an in-depth account about the experience and my recovery, where we also discuss some of the science behind what causes strokes, symptoms, and how the brain recovers (plus some cool GIFs of my brain!).
*
x
