I am a PhD candidate in Geosciences and a Global Change minor. My research focuses on tropical climate variability and it's impacts on coral reef ecosystems. In particular, my dissertation research aims to improve our understanding of how the tropical Pacific Ocean and the strength and frequency of El Niño events have changed with warming over the past century. El Niño events drive extreme weather and stress ecosystems worldwide, yet we still do not have a very good understanding of how the strength and frequency of these events will change in the future. Ultimately, my research aims to determine the resilience of coral reef ecosystems to temperature stress associated with El Nino events and a warming climate. El Niño events drive extreme weather and stress ecosystems worldwide, yet we still do not have a very good understanding of how the strength and frequency of these events will change in the future. The records from across the equatorial Pacific developed through her PhD will improve our understanding of past changes in the tropical Pacific and thus help constrain predictions for the future of this important system.
After finishing my PhD, I aspire to continue research to improve our understanding of tropical climate variability and the resilience of coral reef ecosystems to climate change.
