Research Experience

Sep 2025-Present | Lab Volunteer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

CalCOFI and Semmens lab volunteer assisting graduate students and postdocs. Sampled environmental DNA on a ten-day research cruise.

Sep 2024-Apr 2025 | Reed College Senior Thesis

My undergraduate senior thesis was a continuation of my Hollings internship (see below), focused on copepods. I used a dataset of environmental DNA species identificartions and paired environmental data to investigate the susceptibility of different species of copepods to hypoxia.

Jun-Aug 2024 | NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Program Intern, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL)

Participated in a 10-week NOAA Hollings Program internship in the Ocean Molecular Ecology lab at PMEL. Combined data from an automated environmental DNA (eDNA) sampler with oceanographic data from a mooring at the same location to investigate the relationship between species presence and oxygen saturation. Participated in field eDNA sampling and filtration as well as sampler cleaning and preparation. Presented results to PMEL and the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Program Symposium. I wrote about my research in this blog post.

I presented this talk at the Western Society of Naturalists 2024 conference:

Image credits: Sadie Gardiner, NOAA Hollings Scholarship Program

And this poster at the American Geophysical Union 2024 (virtual due to illness) and the Reed College Summer Research Symposium:

Jun-Aug 2023 | REU Intern, Wetherbee Lab at University of Rhode Island

Participated in the URI Graduate School of Oceanography SURFO program as an intern, attending career development and science writing workshops. Analyzed data from a decade of acoustic and satellite telemetry shark tagging in order to identify the environmental cues that lead sand tiger sharks to leave their aggregation sites on the US East Coast in order to identify potential explanations for shark migration patterns. Completed a final write-up and presentation.

I presented a talk at the REU symposium, and this poster at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2023:

May-Aug 2022 | Lab Intern, Reyns Lab at University of San Diego

Shadowed a graduate student working to measure seasonal growth of Amathia verticillata and assisted her with YSI probe sampling, collecting A. verticillata samples, and data entry. Conducted an independent research project to quantify reproduction in the barnacle Chthamalus fissus on the southern California coast. Measured barnacle diameters & weights and counted eggs and parasites, then conducted data analysis and concluded that barnacle mass varies seasonally, barnacles with greater mass have larger broods, and the connection between season, lunar phase, and brood size needs to be investigated further.

I presented this poster at the Western Society of Naturalists 2022 conference: