I am generally interested in how organisms receive and respond to biotic & abiotic cues in their environment. A majority of my research thus far has been focused on frogs. The biphasic lifestyle of these critters continues to amaze me - many amphibians spend one half of their lives as an aquatic larva and the other as a terrestrial adult. I believe the tadpole stage to be underrepresented in evolutionary and ecological research.

My current main study organism is Dendrobates tinctorius, a species of poison frog whose tadpoles are aggressive & cannibalistic! I am interested in how the environment in which tadpoles live affects their development and behavior, and how these plastic changes may alter evolutionary trajectories.

I aim to ask and answer both proximate (hormonal & neural mechanisms) and ultimate (behavioral & morphological) questions to better understand how traits evolve and persist.

Aside from my research I am also passionate about mentoring and public outreach. In 2024 I started as a program coordinator for the Acheivement & Access Program Summer Research Fellowship & program specialist in the UIUC Office of Undergraduate Research.

You can view my CV here!

I am originally from Sonoma County, California and completed my bachelor of Science in Biology at Mills College (2015). After graduating from Mills I worked as an environmental chemist, testing drinking and wastewater for metals, pollutants, and bacteria. While working as a chemist I also earned my Master's of Science in Biology in Dr. Derek Girman's lab at Sonoma State University studying CA red-legged frogs (2019). I started my PhD journey in Dr. Eva Fischer's Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Fall 2020.

I am a proud pet mom to my dog, 2 cats, 1 turtle, 5 frogs, & 2 fish. I love to travel to new places and explore nature trails, natural history museums, & restaurants.