About me
Welcome to my personal website! I am an independent paleontological researcher specializing in the study of the evolution of extinct amphibians in deep time. I most recently was affiliated with the University of Washington as a postdoctoral researcher and then a part-time research scientist as I transitioned out of academia. I remain associated with UW as a Research Associate at the Burke Museum and continue to engage in academic research in my free time. I am currently the Open Research Coordinator in the University of Texas Libraries at UT Austin; you can find out more about my work on my research scholarship page.
|
A little about me...
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 then went on to work on temnospondyls from the Triassic of Antarctic for my postdoc work. I've 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. February 2023 update
As many folks may be aware of from my social media, I have recently decided to make a career pivot and leave academic research and paleontology (the #altac lifestyle). Please refer to my current research status page for more information as well as details on my current involvement with paleontology and academia. |
|
Teaching experience (courses)
2020
Teaching experience (workshops)
2023
|
Education & training
Postdoctoral scholar (2020–2022)
University of Washington Ph.D., Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2016–2020) University of Toronto B.A., Geology; minor, Biology (2012–2016) Pomona College Museum collections experience
|
