Sacramento, California, United States
I completed a Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2014. My research interests included larval dispersal and connectivity in marine environments. My dissertation focused on understanding how populations of coral reef fishes are genetically linked throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago, relating this to the design of marine protected area networks. I'm very interested in marine protected areas as a tool for preserving biodiversity and enhancing marine resources. During my graduate studies, I worked toward cultivating the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in the sciences. During my least year of graduate school, I served as the president of the UCSC Women in Science and Engineering Group, which is dedicated to supporting the advancement and retention of women in science, math, engineering, and technology fields. Additionally, I mentored undergraduates through the Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity, a program that provides underrepresented students with a paid opportunity to gain experience in biological research. After graduate school, I completed a California State Sea Grant Fellowship at the State Water Resources Control Board, because I wanted to complement my scientific training with hands-on policy experience. At the State Water Board, I worked on multiple projects related to marine water quality, including implementation of regulations for seawater cooling intakes and water quality protected areas. For three years, as an Environmental Scientist, I was one of two lead State Water Board staff for implementation of regulations for seawater desalination facilities throughout California. In 2019, I became the first Biodiversity Coordinator at California Department of Fish and Wildlife, where I was helping to implement the California Biodiversity Initiative. In 2021, I was on a federal detail with the White House Council of Environmental Quality, where I initially served as the Deputy Director for Nature Conservation and later the Director for Nature Conservation. In January 2025, I returned to my position as Biodiversity Coordinator at California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
I serve as a bridge between technical experts and the public, overseeing the annual California Biodiversity Day campaign and coordinating outreach to expand engagement with and awareness of nature in our state. In 2019, California Biodiversity Day started with just 10 events and has now expanded to over 230 events across the state. By fostering partnerships across government agencies, scientific institutions, and private organizations, I support efforts to implement state-level biodiversity goals, including California’s 30x30 initiative and the California Biodiversity Initiative. I previously served as the coordinator for the California Landscape Conservation Partnership (formerly the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative), and currently serve on the steering committee for the California Biodiversity Network and the California Landscape Stewardship Network. I also work to enhance scientific capacity with California Department of Fish and Wildlife by expanding access to scientific literature, facilitating cross-program coordination, and planning an internal science symposium.
At CEQ, my portfolio focused on the America the Beautiful initiative, the national goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. As part of this work, I supported the creation of the $440 million America the Beautiful Challenge grant program to support locally led ecosystem restoration projects. I also led planning for the first White House Conservation in Action Summit, where hundreds of conservation leaders from across the country came together to celebrate major accomplishments in land and water conservation. Additionally, I advised on content and shepherded the development of Conservation.gov, as an online resource hub for community-led conservation. As part of implementation of the America the Beautiful initiative, I championed efforts to strength interagency coordination on connectivity and wildlife corridors, leading an interagency working group and authoring the first White House guidance on this topic. I also coordinated with the Fish Passage Task Force to uplift interagency coordination on the removal of barriers to fish passage.
I was one of two lead staff for implementation of State Water Board regulations for seawater desalination facilities. This is an umbrella project for about ten individual desalination projects, which are in the process of trying to secure permits needed to construct and operate facilities. For each project, I performed complex technical review of documents submitted by the applicant, develop regulatory recommendations, facilitate interagency coordination, engage in discussions with stakeholders, and frequently initiate and complete assignments on short timelines. Additionally, I frequently prepared briefing documents and talking points for upper management and met with them to bring them up to speed on current issues.
The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is a state agency that is responsible for protecting the quality of California's waters while ensuring their beneficial uses. As a Sea Grant Fellow in the Ocean Standards Unit, I assisted in developing and updating statewide water quality control plans, policies, and standards that involve marine waters. I was involved in several projects during my fellowship. I was the lead staff for Once-Through Cooling (OTC) interim mitigation. This concerns the mitigation that power plants are required to perform to compensate for their impingement and entrainment impacts as they come into compliance with the OTC Policy. I prepared a resolution that the Board adopted, which delegated authority to approve mitigation measures to the Executive Director of the SWRCB. I assisted with the Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) program. ASBS are ocean waters along the California coast that are protected in order to maintain high water quality. Discharge of waste is prohibited in ASBS, unless discharges applied for an exception to this prohibition. To be covered by an exception, dischargers are required to submit compliance plans that describe the actions that they are taking to minimize/eliminate discharges and to protect water quality in ASBS. I helped review draft compliance plans to ensure that they are meeting special requirements for ASBS and write letters to dischargers that explain any deficiencies in their compliance plans. I also reviewed monitoring reports compiled for the ASBS regional monitoring programs. I served as the SWRCB representative on the Marine Protected Areas Statewide Leadership Team (MSLT) Working Group. The MSLT is essentially an interagency effort to collaborate to leverage resources and manage California's network of Marine Protected Areas. I contributed to the working group's draft of an initial 3-year work plan for the MSLT.
For my dissertation, I was interested in utilizing molecular genetic tools to address ecological questions about larval dispersal and connectivity in marine populations. The long-standing paradigm has been that marine populations are “open” to larval dispersal from distant sources, resulting in genetic homogeneity across a species' range. However, an increasing number of studies has demonstrated genetic structure (i.e. genetic differentiation), suggesting that populations are not as "open" as once thought and that barriers to dispersal exist. Direct observation of larvae is often impractical, so using genetic data as a proxy for larval dispersal is a practical alternative for assessing connectivity in marine populations. My research centered around this fundamental question of how "open" marine populations are to larval dispersal and the extent of genetic connectivity between populations. For my study system, I compared several species of damselfishes throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago (HA).
The mission of the UCSC Women in Science and Engineering group is to promote the retention of women in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. The group is open to all undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty, regardless of gender, at UCSC. We held social events throughout the year to allow our members to network with each other while learning more about topics that are relevant to our mission. We also took into consideration suggestions from our members when planning upcoming events and often collaborate with other on-campus organizations to co-sponsor events. As the president of this group, I helped coordinate responsibilities and facilitate discussion among the several other officers. I also served as a spokesperson for our group at the events of other organizations. In 2014, I spearheaded our group's first collaboration with an off-campus organization (the Monterey Area Institutions' Network for Education) to co-host a workshop on skills critical to working in teams.