advocate by heart // scientist by choice
Hey, y'all. I'm Zo.
about
Zo
I am a PhD student in Joel Fodrie's Coastal Fisheries Oceanography and Ecology Lab at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences, and an MSc alumna of Aaron Galloway's Coastal Trophic Ecology Lab (CTEL) at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology.
Before graduate school, I served a year as an AmeriCorps member at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTMSC). And though I am a Michigan native, I am also apparently a sucker for the south--I earned my BA in Biology from Hendrix College in Arkansas.
(I study the sharing of snacks in the ocean.)
trophᐧic eᐧcolᐧoᐧgy
Research
Broadly, I am interested in the trophic ecology of invasion--an emerging theme in marine systems. When a nonindigenous species is introduced, how does it shift food web dynamics? What are the impacts of these shifts on socioeconomics and biodiversity? I specifically seek to answer these questions in the context of Didemnum vexillum, a pervasive and invasive colonial tunicate in the Northwest Atlantic and Northeast Pacific.
My initial exposure to trophic ecology research was through a project in Joel Llopiz's Lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). During my AmeriCorps term, I served as the citizen science educator at PTMSC, where I worked on projects spanning harmful algal blooms to seastar wasting disease. Several moons ago, I too studied the physiology of the beaked whale (Mesoplodon spp.) diaphragm and the microbial ecology of a restored urban watershed.
Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. -Mary Oliver
Instructions for living a life.
Teaching
My pedagogy is centered around creating humbling, intriguing, and joyful intellectual spaces in which lifelong learning and exploration are encouraged, and in which students feel respected and safe. To accomplish these objectives, I design and implement hands-on science curricula. As an environmental educator (who frequently experiences 'the wiggles'), it is my priority to get students outside.
I teach both formally and informally. While my former students encompass toddlers to retirees, my teaching experiences are now concentrated at the middle/high school and undergraduate levels.
...only dull knives.
Never a dull moment
CV, Biological Illustrations, &
blog
You can keep up with me professionally via LinkedIn and ResearchGate, or by downloading my CV below.
I completed an intensive Invertebrate Zoology course in Spring 2017. Check out the product of that course--an extensive notebook of biological illustrations--below!
For a more informal and up-to-date happenings, follow my Twitter feed or visit my blog.
Drop me a note! I look forward to hearing from you.