2024

JULY

• Invited to present at my first conference symposia! I gave a talk on the conservation genetics of eastern oysters at the 3rd Joint Congress of Evolutionary Biology in Montréal, Canada. Recording available here. 
• Presented a poster at Evolution 2024 entitled Queer perspectives on ineffective DEI initiatives in EEB with my outstanding co-authors Andy Lee, Ally Swank, and Leila Curtis. Stay tuned for the forthcoming manuscript!  

JUNE

• Invited and gave a short talk about my experience as a queer scientist in the natural history field at a 500 Queer Scientists pride month networking mixer. Happy Pride Month!!
• My manuscript, "DNA barcoding reveals mislabeling of endangered sharks sold as swordfish in New England fish markets", is now under review at Conservation Genetics! Preprint available here.

MAY

• Awarded Best Talk (2nd place) by faculty judging and Best Talk (3rd place) by fellow graduate student judging for my talk on historic oyster DNA at the annual Northeastern Marine Science Center Graduate Student Symposium!
• Received an Equity Action Grant from Northeastern University's College of Science to further DEIJB initiatives! Fellow PhD student Angela Jones and I will use the grant to develop a workshop this summer. 

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​APRIL

• Awarded the Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Grant from the National Shellfisheries Association!
• Published my second Forthcoming Paper Press Release with the American Society of Naturalists
• Completed outreach with Skype-A-Scientist, visiting two schools and five classrooms of 5th - 8th grade students

​MARCH

• Attended a workshop on Ancient DNA Analysis at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC
• Presented another successful "Oyster Doctors" outreach program with my lab and received news coverage!

FEBRUARY

• Passed my last qualifying exam, the proposal defense, and was admitted to candidacy in my PhD program!
• Completed the Evolving Seas RCN VLTP program with Dr. Courtney Hofman's lab at the University of Oklahoma

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2023

DECEMBER

• Received the Collaboration Award at the annual Lotterhos Lab Award Ceremony for initiating and funding my new collaboration with Dr. Ryan Carnegie at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. 

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER

• Spent a month in the field at VIMS to conduct feasibility analysis of extracting DNA from historic preserved oysters
• Finished processing the last population of eastern oysters (1,160 oysters total) for my seascape genomic analysis! 

SEPTEMBER

• Presented a talk on my temporal oyster genomics study design at the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute

AUGUST

• Attended a SLiM workshop at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology hosted by Dr. Ben Haller
• Presented the "Oyster Doctors" outreach program for COSA Marine Science Academy with my lab!

JUNE

• Attended Evolution 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and had a blast! I presented a talk on my research about geographic distribution of eastern oyster macroparasites.
• Awarded the Lerner-Gray Grant for Marine Research from the American Museum of Natural History!

MAY

• Published a Forthcoming Paper Press Release with the American Society of Naturalists
• Presented on my research and pathway to grad school to 50+ local students from Lynn Public High School

APRIL

• Awarded an Honorable Mention on my NSF-GRFP proposal! Although not funded, I received great reviews.
• Passed my oral comprehensive knowledge exam, the first qualifying exam on the route to candidacy.

MARCH

• Presented the "Oyster Doctors" outreach program I developed for the HSMSS at Northeastern, and it was a hit!

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2022

DECEMBER

• Received the Data Integrity Award at the annual Lotterhos Lab Award Ceremony for my organization skills with our seascape phenotype data!