I am a Marine Science and Conservation PhD student at the Duke University Marine Lab. I am broadly interested in population and community responses to change, both natural (e.g., ice extent) and anthropogenic (e.g., whaling, noise pollution). I am particularly interested in the recovery of marine mammals in the Arctic ecosystem following historical whaling and possible shifts in populations with changing climatic conditions. I am also keenly interested in data poor species of high conservation concern. For my dissertation, I will be using various methods, including stable isotope analysis, bio-acoustics, and joint-species distribution models, to address gaps in the basic life history of the critically endangered eastern population of North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica).
    Prior to beginning my graduate studies at Duke, I completed a B.S. in Marine and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Maine, Orono, followed by a M.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. During my M.S. I studied fine-scale spatial variability in humpback whale diet around the Kodiak Archipelago of Alaska using bulk stable isotope values from humpback whale skin biopsies. Following which, I worked for the NOAA Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle, WA and the University of Washington Joint Institute, JISAO, researching temporal patterns in marine mammal acoustic presence in the Bering Sea and eastern Aleutian Islands using passive acoustic data.