oh snap, some major updates

Image Credit: Fritz Freudenberger

Howdy! This post will be a bit stripped down, as I'm just starting to revamp my site after years(!!!) of inactivity. There are several important updates that I'll be making to this site to align with my current research and roles:

1. I graduated from the University of Oregon with my PhD in 2021! Woohoo!

2. I taught for a year in UO's Clark Honors College, where I delivered two largely non-majors science courses: Sea Sick (a marine disease ecology course) and The Art of Biology (a course that attempted to bridge biology and art).

3. In 2022, I began a postdoc with Dr. Maya Groner, a senior research scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine. Bigelow is an independent marine science institution. Here, I study an emerging syndrome in Bering Sea snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) called Black Eye Syndrome or BES. We don't yet know the cause of the syndrome (hence why we don't call it a disease), and a large part of my work is investigating potential environmental correlates to help us hypothesize what and whether environmental drivers may be influencing BES.

4. I also have a few other projects here, including a just-starting study on epizootic shell disease (ESD) in American Lobster (Homarus americanus). The emergence and rise of ESD in Southern New England coincided with the decline of the fishery, especially worrying as it may contribute to mortality and makes lobsters less marketable. With ESD being correlated with warming waters, a fear is that ESD will rise in the Gulf of Maine, which is warming remarkably quickly. Our hope is that we may be better able to understand ESD risk in the Gulf of Maine and provide that information to lobstermen and resource managers to help prepare for the future.

That's the big stuff for the time being, keep an eye on the site as it updates! Thanks for your interest and support!