Marine Biology MSc. Student | University of Victoria
CV Highlights
Experience in Research
MSc. Student
January 2023 - Present
I am currently an MSc. student in the Ocean Conservation Lab at UVic. My thesis research centers on asynchronous warming of the intertidal zone (i.e., the land surface warming more rapidly than the sea surface). I recently finished several experiments at BMSC testing the effects of different combinations of air and water temperatures on the feeding behaviour and metabolism of juvenile ochre sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus).
Research Technician
September 2021 - December 2022
I worked in the Juanes Lab at UVic on the Coho Otolith Project. I extracted otoliths from several species of salmon from various age classes, photographed the otoliths using a microscope and camera, and determined the proportion of vaterite and aragonite in each otolith using photoshop. I also assisted with several experiments at Goldstream River Hatchery investigating the formation of abnormal otoliths in coho salmon. Finally I was part of a field team, sampling the scales and otoliths from hatchery and wild adult Coho and Chinook salmon at hatcheries across Vancouver Island and mainland BC.
BSc. Honours Biology
September 2017 - August 2021
I completed my BSc. Honours at the University of Victoria with a concentration in Marine Biology. Highlights from this degree included a field course at the Bamfield Marine Research Station and my honour's thesis which investigated the impact of local and global disturbances on the isotopic niche of the arc-eye hawkfish.
NSERC USRA
Summer 2021
Working with Prof. Julia Baum and her post-doc Dr. Starko, I reviewed and synthesized the literature pertaining to the potential for marine ecosystems within Canada (including kelp, seagrasses, and salt marshes) to sequester carbon, and hence serve as “natural climate change solutions”. This research helped support current research in the Baum Lab, as well as newly developed projects and grant proposals. For the second half of my USRA, I prepared stomach samples of tropical reef fish for stable isotope analysis and DNA metabarcoding.
Research Assistant
Summer 2020
I worked closely with researchers in Prof. Julia Baum's lab at UVic to synthesize data collected during Baum Lab expeditions to Kiritimati before, during, and after the 2015-2016 marine heatwave. I used ArcGIS to help one graduate student process 3D models and 2D photo-mosaics from overlapping photographs taken at permanent reef plots on the atoll. This involved learning to ID corals to species level and using ArcMap polygons to select individual colonies on each permanent reef plot. I also processed fish tissue samples for stable isotope analysis and used a subsample of this data for my honor's project.