Research Interests
Phytoplankton have played an incredibly important role in the history of the Earth, and are responsible for about half of the global oxygen production. My work with Dr. Kay Bidle and Dr. Kim Thamatrakoln focuses on measuring the costs and benefits of calcification in the coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi. Broadly, I am interested in how biomineralization in phytoplankton, phytoplankton physiology, and how phytoplankton interact with their environment, other organisms, and each other.
Short History
I grew up in landlocked south-central Pennsylvania, but became interested in marine life at an early age. My interest in oceanography, and phytoplankton in particular, grew during an undergraduate research experience I had at the Graduate School of Oceanography in Rhode Island the summer before my senior year of college. My senior research at SU involved collecting and identifying freshwater benthic algae and using them as bioindicators of water quality of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania.
Education
2017, BS, Biology, Susquehanna University
2017, BA, Spanish, Susquehanna University
Since 2017- PhD Student, Graduate Program in Oceanography, Rutgers University