After graduating from Cal Poly Humboldt with a B.S. in fisheries and an applied mathematics minor I moved directly into the graduate program at the University of Idaho to earn a Master's Degree in statistics. My interests were in stock assessment modeling and having a solid foundation in fisheries I starting working to further improve my statistics and math. After three years in that program, working on salmon models, I took the opportunity to work as a fisheries modeler in New Zealand . That changed my life, not only because of the overseas experience, but because my colleagues were well known fisheries scientists and I was exposed to the non-academic side of fisheries research. I performed stock assessments, did statistical analyses, designed and participated in trawl and acoustic surveys, and attended many stock assessment working group meetings.

My thirst for more knowledge grew while in New Zealand and I decided to return to academia by coming back to the states to earn a PhD in fisheries at the University of Washington . I am now learning from faculty and fellow students, and fortuitously, my research is on orange roughy fisheries in New Zealand , giving me the opportunity to travel there every year. I have been performing stock assessments for orange roughy, studying various aspects of orange roughy and their fisheries that would improve the stock assessments, teaching workshops on stock assessment methods and software, and taking classes. I have also remained in close contact with my previous major professors and have helped them simulate salmon populations in the Central Valley of California. I feel that my career is just beginning with a solid foundation beneath me.