Since beginning my undergraduate career studying Marine Biology, I've been passionate about conducting research. Broadly, I'm interested in studying how organisms respond to changes in their environment. This interest has led to me studying Black Sea Bass in SC, Corals in HI, Dogfish in MA, Corals in the USVI, Algae in CA, and Coral symbionts in Israel. My doctoral research aims to identify coral gene expression biomarkers indicative of local pollutants.
In 2010, I spent my summer at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources conducting a life history update on Centropristis striata.
In 2011, I spent my summer at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. I surveyed the reefs around Coconut Island to determine how a disease outbreak in 2010 impacted them.
In 2012, I spent my summer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution utilizing oceanographic instruments to study the movements of Dogfish.
From 2011-2013, I surveyed coral reefs near the University of the Virgin Islands in order to determine how these reefs have changed since 1982.
For my Masters thesis I studied color changing algae in the Monterey Bay, CA. I transplanted these algae between the low and high intertidal zone and cultured them at the lab.
In the summer of 2017, I traveled to Eilat, Israel to survey coral symbionts (Symbiodinium) using molecular methods. I extracted and analyzed DNA using qPCR.