DUML Lab 2, Room 11
135 Duke Marine Lab Road
Beaufort, North Carolina 28516
Phone: (252) 504-7529
Fax: (252) 504-7648
email: js4@duke.edu

Research Interests:

• Historical ecology
• Traditional ecological knowledge
• Coral reef ecology
• Dynamics between coastal watersheds and marine habitats
• Coastal zone management

Education:

• B.A. in Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2001. Wesleyan University. Middletown,Connecticut

Bio:
I grew up in sleepy Seal Beach, California, a small So Cal beach town isolated from the urban bustle by the Pacific, San Gabriel River, and a National Wildlife Refuge. An idyllic place for a young ocean enthusiast, I spent most every day in the water-- at the beach, Junior Lifeguarding, surfing, or in the pool playing water polo. Yet over my childhood I watched the beaches grow increasingly polluted, water quality more degraded, and beach closures become an all-too-common occurrence. This duality of the wonders of the Pacific along with the obvious footprint we humans are leaving upon it drove me to study and conserve our oceans. While attending Wesleyan University, I participated in researching the paleoclimatology of the Southern Ocean, as well as paleoecology of Long Island Sound. I had the amazing opportunity to study coral reef ecology on the Great Barrier Reef, as well as aboriginal studies in Queensland, Australia, and during this time I surveyed ecological change resulting from the 1998 mass coral bleaching event.

Following graduation, I worked in nonpoint source pollution management with the California Coastal Commission, where I was solely in charge of water quality-related coastal zone management in the Los Angeles and Orange Counties. From there, I helped my sister, Phoebe, film a documentary in the last remaining Native Hawaiian fishing village, where the kupuna (knowledgeable, revered elders) were trying to preserve their culture and save their coral reef fisheries. This experience led me to my current studies of Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Native Hawaiians, and their observations of change in Kona coast reefs.

Hobbies:
Swimming, surfing, playing water polo, kayaking, hiking, traveling, applying for the Amazing Race, hanging out with my super-cool filmmaker sister, reading the "giants" of world literature