Officially, I’m an Academic Administrator at University of California, Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, directing the white abalone captive breeding program. Unofficially, I run a highly specialized fertility clinic, health spa, and nursery for charismatic snails. We’re trying to save the white abalone — a delicious and adorable marine mollusk — from the brink of extinction. I collaborate with other scientists, Native people, state and federal agencies, aquariums, and aquaculture farmers who are all trying figure out the best way to get the abalone in the mood to boost their numbers.
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Hailing from Iowa, I feel equally at home among rustling rows of corn and towering forests of kelp. I graduated with comprehensive honors with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology and a certificate in Environmental Studies from University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2005 and earned a PhD in Population Biology from University of California, Davis in 2011, after which I joined the white abalone captive program at UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory.
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I was incredibly honored to recently received the NOAA Species in the Spotlight Hero Recognition Award for my work saving white abalone (compete with hand-made White Abalone Hero Cape, which I proudly hang in my office to remind me of all of the amazing people I get to collaborate with on this project). I have a strong interest in forming meaningful and robust connections among science, restoration, aquaculture, and tribal knowledge, as well as communicating science to a broad audience. I also feel incredibly fortunate to get to dedicate my life to something I love.
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