Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

About Me

I grew up in northern New York with a love for the ocean. As a high school student, I volunteered at the St. Lawrence Aquarium and Ecological Center every summer and participated in the Sea Education Association’s Oceanography of the Gulf of Maine. I attended the University of New England (UNE) in Biddeford, Maine, where I received my Bachelor of Science with a degree in marine biology and a minor in chemistry. While at the UNE, I interned at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences during my summers researching phytoplankton and participating in research cruises. During the school year, I was a lab assistant studying the osmoregulation of green crabs and rock crabs as it pertained to salinity. On weekends, I volunteered at the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center to nurse seals for release back to the wild. As a senior, I conducted an honors thesis project examining the feeding habit of starfish upon mussels as a function of seasonal temperature variations. After graduation, I moved to California to participate in the AmeriCorps/Los Angeles Conservation Corps/U.S. Forest Service program to help create a fire break for towns in the San Bernardino National Forest. I then became a teaching assistant at my high school to help disadvantaged students with learning disabilities graduate from high school. It was here that I realized I missed the ocean and research and thus decided to go back to school for my master’s degree. I received my Master of Science from the University of Florida in the summer of 2008. I am currently b back to being a teaching assistant at my old high school, but am definitely ready to move on and get back into science.

Education

• University of Florida
• Master of Science, Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• 2006 - 2008

• Completed M.S. in 2 years. Helped redirect Florida multi-million dollar clam farming industry away from triploid hard clam to avoid revenue loss.

• University of New England
• Bachelor of Science, Marine Biology, Chemistry (Minor)
• 2001 - 2005

• Top 10% of class invited to conduct an undergraduate research thesis; One of 2 students to actually finish and defend thesis.