Current Research
Exploring the Evolution of Complex Traits using Cephalopod Light Organs and Cnidarian Eyes
Fall 2019-Present
University of California, Santa Barbara
Ph.D. Student, Oakley Lab
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My doctoral work seeks to understand how complex traits evolve. Using comparative microscopy in cephalopod light organs and cnidarian eyes, I aim to determine if there are common strategies to building the morphological structures responsible for interacting with light.
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Pictured right: A D. pealii embryo stained with DAPI, phalloidin, and SIR tubulin for protocol testing
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Past Research Projects
Fluorescence Patterns in Cnidarians
Summer 2022
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
As part of: Tropical Taxonomy of Medusozoan Cnidarians
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This project surveyed medusozoans present in the waters of Bocas del Toro and characterized the autofluorescence patterns present in these species.
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Croaker Fish Population Genetics
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M. undulatus line drawing in the public domain, accessed via Wikimedia Commons
Fall 2017-Present
University of Central Florida
Undergraduate Researcher, Hoffman Lab
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Poster presentations: Florida Undergraduate Research Conference 2018, Science by the Shore Symposium 2018, UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence 2018
In the Indian River Lagoon, two species of croaker fish coexist: the Whitemouth Croaker (Micropogonias furnieri) and the Atlantic Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus). The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has found individuals that cannot be identified as one of these species by there morphometric characters (e.g. gill raker count and total length) alone. We are using genetic methods to try to determine the genetic differentiation in the area and, perhaps, how these ambiguous individuals are related to the other Micropogonias groups.
Pit Viper Systematics
Fall 2016-Summer 2017
University of Central Florida
Research Assistant, Parkinson Lab
This project compared different pit viper species based on their transcriptome. We used classic genetic tools, such as Sanger sequencing, to generate DNA sequences and RNAseq to build transcriptomes for each species. By comparing these transcriptomes, we can determine the relationship of each species to one another.
Gopher Tortoise Railway and Road Ecology
Summer 2016
John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL
Research Assistant, Parkinson Lab
Poster presentations: Gopher Tortoise Council Meeting 2017, UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence 2017
Anthropogenic barriers, such as roads and railways, hinder animal movement. With this project, we found evidence to show that railroads do hinder Gopher Tortoise movement by observing their behavior within the railway and tracking the movements of those tortoises that lived nearby. We also observed their homing behavior after translocating individuals in order to determine whether or not roads acted as a corridor between suitable habitat areas.
Gopher Tortoise Railway Ecology
-Parkinson Lab-
Croaker fish population genetics
-Hoffman Lab-
Enrolled at UCF for B.S. in Biology
Pit Viper Phylogenetics and Systematics
-Parkinson Lab-
Evolution of Cephalopod Photophores
-Oakley Lab-