About Me.

I am an artist turned evolutionary biologist from San Diego California. I received my BFA at the University of Michigan where I  studied sculpture, botany, and freshwater algae and discovered my first species. Connecting people to under-studied organisms in unique ways with my art has been a central focus for me but recently I have spent most of my time learning new tools for studying these organisms. I am now a PhD student at UC Santa Barbara researching the evolution of amphipod silk and the evolution of arthropods. Beyond my PhD research, I spend time organizing outreach events, SCUBA diving, taking underwater photographs, rock climbing, illustrating, and looking under logs for bugs.