Thank you for visiting my website! I assume you are here because you want to know a little bit more about me!
I am an ecologist. I ask and answer questions about why the natural world behaves the way it does.
The landmarks that marked the beginning of my path to becoming an ecologist are similar to many others in the field. I was an inquisitive child with a deep love for the outdoors and animals; however, there are other landmarks that I suspect are a little more unique. I am the child of a petroleum engineer whose job took us abroad when I was four years old. I grew up in Pakistan, Malaysia, Qatar, the UAE, and Texas, and spent almost every break from school traveling the world with my family. I drove the Karakoram Highway, sailed the Aegean Sea, and rode a horse around the pyramids—all before I was sixteen. These early experiences gifted me with the ability to be highly adaptable and open-minded. These are skills that I bring to everything I do, but I have found them to be especially useful as I have waded into the waters of field ecology and conservation.
I completed my PhD under Dr. Brice Semmens at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where I managed to simultaneously develop my field work and quantitative/coding skillsets. Afterwards I obtained a position as the VI-EPSCOR movement ecology postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI). In August of 2023, I started as an Assistant Professor in the College of Science and Mathematics at UVI.
When I am not working on my research, I enjoy skateboarding, traveling, hosting friends for dinner, and surfing with my husband. I have also recently become interested in mixology and am frequently experimenting with different cocktail recipes.