I grew up in Palo Alto, California and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Aquatic Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2009. As an aquatic biologist at ICF International (www.icfi.com) in the Los Angeles office, I apply my interests and training in applied marine and freshwater fisheries ecology, conservation, and geographic information systems to solve complex environmental problems. Prior to moving to ICF in 2016, I was a Senior Staff Scientist with Cardno (www.cardno.com).

    

     From 2010 to 2012, I was employed by the Cachuma Operation & Maintenance Board, and conducted trapping and sampling Steelhead in the Santa Ynez River. That experience sparked my interests for informed fisheries management and conservation/restoration ecology. I also worked a Marine Technician for Bio Architecture Lab's Ellwood Kelp Growing Project, which began my fascination with aquaculture, and as a deckhand on the M/V Conception charter SCUBA diving boat at the California Channel Islands.  

While in school at UCSB, I received scientific diver certification (AAUS) and I have since participated on subtidal monitoring and research projects, mostly at California's stunning Channel Islands.  UCSB has a top-notch geography department, which I took advantage of with a year of GIS (geographic information systems) classes.  The skills came of use when I worked as a GIS intern with Island Conservation, Don Croll , Ph.D and Bernie Tershy, Ph.D of UC Santa Cruz, and I continue to use GIS in my environmental consulting career.  

     As a UCLEADS scholar (http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/diversityoutreach/ucleads) at UCSB I was funded for my own undergraduate  projects and two summers of intensive research sessions at UCSB and UCSC.  These experiences stimulated my appetite for the processes of scientific research and solidified my goal of eventually pursuing a Ph.D in aquatic ecology.  I am thrilled to investigate the life beneath the water's surface that intrigued at me at a young age when I spent afternoons peering into tide pools and yearned to be submerged amongst the aquatic life.