Critical information gaps remain in understanding impacts of industrial seismic surveys on marine vertebrates

I am a PhD candidate in the Marine Science and Conservation program. My research interests broadly center around conservation biology and conservation policy, primarily through the lens of protected species bycatch. I am particularly interested in conducting bycatch assessments in international commercial fisheries, especially those managed by regional fisheries management organizations, and modeling bycatch rates in data-poor scenarios. I am equally as interested in the policy and management angle to these human-wildlife conflicts, and enjoy exploring efficacy of regulations and working with managers to strengthen policy and management surrounding protected species.

My strong interests in bycatch, policy, and management are influenced from my prior work experience, including as a former NOAA Knauss Marine Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, an MMPA analyst as a contractor at the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources, and as a science communicator at Oceana. I hold a Master of Coastal Environmental Management from Duke University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. 

I study the conservation biology of long-lived marine vertebrates, particularly marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles. My work, and that of my students, documents the effects of human activities on populations of these species. Our work involves field work, experimentation and modeling. I am particularly interested in the development and application of new conservation tools.

Sound propagates very efficiently through sea water, and marine mammals take advantage of this medium to communicate and explore their environment. My research is focused on the link between acoustic and motor behavior in marine mammals, primarily cetaceans and manatees, specifically, how they use sound in ecological processes. The cetaceans, or whales and dolphins, are divided into two main groups, the toothed whales (odontocetes) and the baleen whales (mysticetes). One of my specific areas of research is the use of echolocation and foraging behavior in one of the odontocetes, the bottlenose dolphin. Another focus of my current research is the effect(s) of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals.