About me

Welcome to my personal website! I am currently working as a part-time NSF-funded research scientist at the University of Washington, studying Early Triassic temnospondyls from Antarctica (yes, that Antarctica!).

Like many kids, I grew up fascinated by dinosaurs and most things extinct. I spent quite a lot of my childhood reading books about these fantastical animals and dragging my family (primarily my mom) around the greater LA area to any museum or exhibition that was tangentially related to the history of life on Earth. I've had some great opportunities, many with the LA County Museum of Natural History, that cemented my determination to pursue a career in paleontology.
    I earned my B.A. in geology with a minor in biology from Pomona College (Claremont, CA), where I was involved with research projects led by Brian Kraatz on paleoecosystem modeling and by Lars Schmitz on sensitivity analyses of ecomorphological models. I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in the department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. My dissertation research centered around studying the paleobiology (ecology, evolution, phylogeny, ontogeny) of early Permian dissorophoid temnospondyls from Richards Spur, Oklahoma. I've also done fieldwork all over the American southwest for the last decade, mostly split between Jurassic sauropods and Late Triassic vertebrates. At some point, I drifted away from dinosaurs and drifted into amphibians, which I am now enthusiastically engaged with for most of my research.

July 2022 update

As many folks may be aware of from my social media, I have recently decided to make a career pivot and leave academia and paleontology (the #altac lifestyle). I will just refer you to my Twitter if you want to catch up on that, but I look forward to the next adventure whether it involves paleo or not. I will continue to maintain this website as the central location for all of my professional paleontology materials and resources (more to come on the latter in the coming months).

Teaching experience

2020​
  • Vertebrate Form and Function (BIO 354), UTM, lab/marking TA
  • Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution (BIO 356), UTM, marking TA
2019
  • History of Our Living Planet (BIO 211), UTM, course instructor
  • Vertebrate​ Form and Function (BIO 354), UTM, lab/marking TA
2018
  • History of Our Living Planet (BIO 211), UTM, course instructor
  • Vertebrate Form and Function (BIO 354), UTM, lab/marking TA
  • Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution (BIO 356), UTM, marking TA
2017
  • History of Our Living Planet (BIO 211), UTM, course instructor
  • Vertebrate Form and Function (BIO 354), UTM, lab/marking TA
2016
  • History of Our Living Planet (BIO 211), UTM, marking TA
  • Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution (BIO 356), UTM, marking TA
2014
  • Earth History (GEOL 125), Pomona College, lab TA
2012-2016
  • ​Claremont PALS, Mountain View Elementary (Claremont, CA), volunteer science instructor

Education

Ph.D., Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2020)
University of Toronto

B.A., Geology; minor, Biology (2016)
​Pomona College