Career

I have always had a deep love of the natural world around us, and it feels more important than ever to work to protect our precious outdoor spaces, habitats, water, and air. I am excited to share that I recently accepted a position as a Research Associate at the University of Colorado Boulder! I will be working on the development of a mobile carbon detector that will be used to measure carbon in the ocean. Our oceans have done the heavy lifting for us in the battle against climate change so far. While our biggest opportunity for impact will always be to lower emissions, carbon sequestration methods will be part of our strategy to mitigate climate change. This is the perfect way for me to get into the lab, and work on a project aligned with my deep love of our environment and its connection to our daily lives.

Learn more about the ocean and climate change:

Short Term Goals

While I explore and learn in my new position, I am looking forward to professional growth as I take this next step. I will be diversifying both my optical skills and my knowledge around our climate challenges. I’m excited to learn how a large collaboration works and what is needed to succeed.

Long Term Goals

After this position, I am interested in seeking a position in industry, working on climate based research and solutions. I am striving to be well versed in environmental impacts of our industries, understanding how to provide clean water and clean air to our communities, and what scientific evidence and data gathering can aid in crafting policies that make positive impacts in these areas. I am an avid believer that our data is important to drive smart and effective decisions, and that data alone is not sufficient. I’d like to connect my scientific background to the policy realm in order to impact decision making, whether that be communicating between scientists and politicians or the general public to create understanding around important issues. Eventually, I’d love to go back to a teaching environment. After learning more about the nuances of our systems, what is important to consider to make a meaningful impact, and navigating a career outside of academia, I would love to bring what I’ve learned into the classroom. I think advising and mentoring students from a broader set of experiences will be beneficial for them when they need to make important decisions about their own careers and lives.

Background

I grew up on the outskirts of Evergreen, Colorado and my mountain childhood has always been a driving force behind my love of nature and the outdoors. After moving to the city as a teenager, I learned so much about the different ways that people live their lives based on their communities and what is nearby to them. I fell in love with both physics and sociology in high school and decided to pursue a sociology major in college. I have a deep interest in how our society influences our thoughts, opinions, trajectories, achievements, and more. In particular, I am curious about how our social roles, norms, and status impact our personal decision making about sustainability and the environment. These concepts fascinate me to this day, and I am an avid listener of Hidden Brain. In a sociology class in undergrad, I stayed after class with a professor to talk about what to do with my life. The topic of physics and math came up- a realm in which I was statistically unlikely to succeed based on my socioeconomic status. I wanted to learn more about that on a personal level.

And so, I began my formal scientific journey in undergrad at MSU Denver. I absolutely loved the environment, the people, the culture, and the drive from both the teachers and the students there. I worked full time and more than one job at a time in addition to going to school full time to pursue my own American dream. This was exhausting, rewarding, insightful, and educational for me beyond just the classroom. I learned so much about myself, about sacrifice, about time management, about boundaries, about relationships, about privilege and disadvantage, about a whole academic world that I knew nothing about and went in a bit blind to… I double majored in Physics and Applied Math and then went to DU for my PhD. I went to graduate school with the goal of teaching because I wanted to have a positive impact on the future generations of scientists and help disentangle their doubts about what they are capable of based on societal norms.

During graduate school I gained invaluable experience in technical scientific work (specifically in optics), communication (both oral and written), grant support, creating community amongst students, teaching, presentation, data analysis, programming and more. I had a lot of fun in my optical career- learning about lasers and light matter interactions was fascinating and taught me a lot about how we can measure and understand our environment including the fundamentals behind how we measure things like greenhouse gasses and concentrations of carbon or pollutants. I learned about the impact of small details and how to prevail during painstaking periods of not yet knowing how to solve complicated problems. I interacted with passionate scientists who asked poignant questions and explored uncharted territory and developed those skills as well. I learned that we all have challenges and that there is always a creative solution to what you are working on.

I also learned a lot about myself and the insight into what I really want to work on in my life. Participating in ecological work through a summer STEM camp for marginalized low income middle school girls helped me realize how much I yearned to participate in work related to our environment. We even published work in Ecology and Evolution, and each of the girls were coauthors!

Now, I am working on building a carbon detector for measurement of carbon in the ocean. I’m very excited about this project, and can’t wait to see where it leads me.

I am goal-oriented, a problem-solver, and resilient. I have a lot of writing and presentations under my belt, including several publications, poster presentations, talks (ranging from 12-50 minutes), and an invited keynote at the DU Research and Scholarship Showcase where I had to describe my research in a 5 minute limited presentation. I have been told by colleagues along the way that one of my strengths is communicating between two people who may have a misunderstanding and creating insightful figures. I love to create bridges between perspectives and ideas to facilitate better understanding amongst a group, pulling everyone together to solve a problem in the best way.

My Clifton Strengths Top 5 Themes

Theme	Description
Learner	People exceptionally talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
Relator	People exceptionally talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
Achiever	People exceptionally talented in the Achiever theme work hard and possess a great deal of stamina. They take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive.
Individualization	People exceptionally talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how different people can work together productively.
Responsibility	People exceptionally talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

Personal Interests

My biggest general goal in life is to be a good person, and learn from my mistakes. I am constantly working to improve, whether it be learning a new technical skill, working on my interpersonal skills, understanding how one thing may be interconnected to another, and how our systems can cause harm or healing. I want people around me to feel inspired, capable, and that they matter. We all start out in different places and face different struggles, challenges, and societal barriers. I am someone who works with people by meeting them where they are at and listening to where they want to go.

My personal interests in addition to climate science and our planet’s well-being include public policy/politics, gardening, hiking, backpacking, cooking, baking, video games, sustainable home improvement, and interior design.

During my employment gap

My partner and I remodeled our kitchen from start to finish, including using as many reused products as possible such as cabinetry, appliances, trim, and more. This included time and effort into sourcing sustainable materials, designing functional spaces from a clean floorplan, coming up with creative solutions such as moving our staircase to an alternate location, and making space efficient choices. I highly recommend anyone on the Front Range to utilize the wonderful place that is Resource Central for any of your home repairs and remodeling rather than going to big box stores.

I travelled to Switzerland and was able to see the precious glaciers that may have a limited lifespan. I’ve hiked and backpacked in a myriad of places including Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Burr Pond, Great Sand Dunes, Sequoia National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Evergreen, Red Cliffs, and various places along the Front Range.

I learned to navigate our health systems for my own health struggles and to support access to care for people who have lacked access to quality medical care.

I’ve enjoyed creative and skill building endeavors including learning to build websites, reading books and listening to podcasts on a daily basis related to climate, systemic injustice, politics, social insights, personal development, and antiracism, and have gotten engaged in activism. I grew a myriad of vegetables in my own backyard- tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, peas, cucumbers, tomatillos, carrots, peppers, pumpkins, corn…. My love of food and the earth has lead me to increase my skills in cooking and baking to connect with ingredients and the planet.