Field Semester
I participated in the 2012 CSU field semester on the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Science campus in Two Harbors, Santa Catalina Island. We participated in daily lectures, field work, and lab sessions, then studied into the night in the library. We also had an exciting Buccaneer Days and Halloween in town! My semester project examined the correlation between fish diversity and substrate rugosity in the shallow subtidal area of Big Fisherman's Cove.
Volunteer work
I logged over 250 hours in the field assisting CSULB Shark Lab graduate students in a variety of acoustic telemetry studies in the Huntington Beach Wetlands Complex and the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach. I was a coauthor on one of the resulting publications: Does Estuary Restoration Design Alter the Fine Scale Movements of Grey Smoothhounds (Mustelus californicus) in Southern California?
Employment
While I attended school full-time, I also worked as a lab assistant in the CSULB Polychaete Lab and as a Scientific Aide at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. I conducted multiple reproductive studies with worms from the Neanthes aculeata complex for Dr. Don Reish at CSULB. For CDFW, I was hired after a COAST Sport Fisheries internship (see Links) to sample commercial baitfish for the Coastal Pelagic Species - Highly Migratory Species project.
Extracurriculars
I was the Vice President and then President of the CSULB Marine Biology Student Association in 2011 and 2012, respectively. I also represented the MBSA to the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Student Council in 2012. I helped to coordinate the annual MBSA Alumni Event and the annual Nobel Laureate lecture by Dr. Martin Chalfie.
