I am a recent graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, my home for the last twenty two years. Growing up in a state surrounded by water gave me a deep passion for all things aquatic, but seeing the ocean for the first time at the age of sixteen was what deepened my curiosity of all things marine. This curiosity has spawned lots of wonderful experiences that have led me more specifically to what I would like to do. From urchin surveying in New Zealand to sea grass research in Michigan, to guiding and working as a naturalist in the San Juan Islands – I am consistently excited by working with the ocean and learning more about its inhabitants. In school, I pursued ecological sciences, focusing specifically on how agriculture impacts marine environments. I would like to further pursue marine ecology in graduate school to deepen my understanding of the ocean, and sharing that with others. While there are many avenues to take with marine biology, I would like to continue to focus on cetaceans and be able to do research as well as educate others on their conservation efforts. Working with Cascadia so far has been such an appropriate introduction to the field of cetacean studies and I can’t wait to learn more.
Winter 2019