I graduated with a B.A. in Biology from Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 2015. As an undergraduate, I was mostly interested in plant science and in working at the nuclear research reactor on campus. I had always found marine science interesting, but it wasn’t originally my chosen field. I didn’t know I wanted to study the ocean until several months post-graduation, when I lived aboard a couple of tall ships. There, I sailed around the coastal waters of the Pacific and Puget Sound, teaching and doing outreach. Wanting to return to science, but reluctant to leave the water, I applied to graduate programs in marine science and oceanography. I ended up making my way back to my home state of Georgia, where I joined the Joye group as a Ph.D. student. I’ve spent the last few years going on research cruises to the U.S. Atlantic Margin, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf of California, studying water column methane dynamics at cold seeps, hydrothermal vents, oxygen minimum zones and beyond. I’ve learned a lot about the microbiology and geochemistry of methane in these environments, and I am excited to share my findings with the community as I finish my degree. I hope to continue studying and teaching about the biogeochemistry of these unique ocean habitats into my future scientific career. 

I graduated from the Ohio State University in December ‘20 with a Bachelor of Science in Evolution & Ecology. I was first introduced to this field by an undergraduate experience in a freshwater ecology lab under Dr. Mary Kelly-Quinn. In this lab, I evaluated macroinvertebrate communities and surface water quality of disturbed headwaters across eastern Ireland. I joined the Joye Research Group in January ’23 after completing lab rotations through the Integrated Life Sciences program and am presently working towards my PhD in marine sciences. My research interests are focused on microbes and the role they play in shaping ocean processes and elemental cycling. Additionally, I am interested in evaluating the microbial ecology of disturbed and extreme environments utilizing in situ visualization methods and -omics based approaches.

I graduated from the University of New Hampshire in May '22 with a B.S. in Marine, Estuarine, and Freshwater Biology and a B.S. in Earth Science with a concentration in climate studies. During my undergraduate studies, I worked in Dr. Ruth Varner's Trace Gas Biogeochemistry Lab and in Dr. Gregg Moore's Coastal Restoration and Resiliency Lab. In Dr. Varner's lab, I studied methane and carbon dioxide emissions from a temperate peatland and reservoir. In Dr. Moore's lab, I assisted in the study of salt marsh restoration and its effect on marsh nekton populations using bioacoustics. I joined the Joye Lab at UGA in August '22 as a master's student in the Marine Science department. I am studying methane emissions and cyanobacteria in salt marsh ecosystems. In addition, I will be using GIS software to determine emission and microbial trends across marshes.

I graduated from Youngstown State University earning a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry and a M.S. in Biological Sciences in 2015 and 2017 respectively. As a master’s student, I studied heavy-metal resistance in bacteria under the guidance of Dr. Jonathan Caguiat. My thesis focused on determining the mechanism of selenite resistance in a multi-metal resistant strain of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. In culmination of this work, I had refined my research interests to studying microbial life in extreme environments and identifying their roles relative to biogeochemical cycling. I joined the Joye lab in the Fall of 2018, and I am currently working towards earning my Ph.D. in Marine Sciences. My research is centered around carbon cycling in the deep subsurface biosphere of the Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California). Specifically, I am studying the microbially-mediated transformation of low molecular weight carbon compounds across geochemical and temperature gradients.