Research Interests:I currently manage the Marine Mammal and Turtle Genetics Tissue Collection housed here at the Center under the Protected Resources Division. With over 120,000 tissue samples representing almost all cetacean, pinniped and marine turtles species, this collection is the largest of its kind in the world, and has become an invaluable resource for marine conservation research and fisheries management. My work mainly focuses on the maintenance of this collection to ensure long term sample integrity and preservation. Duties include sample inventory and curation, accessioning sample information into our database, managing the sample check-out/check-in tracking process within our genetics laboratory, and overseeing the maintenance of all of our freezers. In the pursuit of a career in the marine sciences, I obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biology with a focus on Marine Biology from Ohio University and shortly after I had the opportunity to engage in several projects as a volunteer at Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Each one of these institutions has provided a truly unique experience that enriched my career with skills in valuable fields such as genetics, photo id, cetacean behavior and animal husbandry. |