In August of 2024, I completed my PhD in Biology at Penn State University. During my PhD, I was co-advised by Iliana Baums and Emily Davenport and my dissertation research broadly focused on the genomics of corals with an emphasis on comparative genomics and understanding the genomic basis of heat stress response. During my time at Penn State, I was a Computation, Bioinformatics, and Statistics (CBIOS) fellow - an NIH-funded T32 interdisciplinary training fellowship program.

Some of my previous work has also included exploring the species composition of global aquaculture feeds using metabarcoding and investigating the mitogenomics and population differentiation of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Presently, I am a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment as part of the New York State SCALE (Survey of Climate change and Adirondack Lake Ecosystems) initiative. In this position, I will be using eDNA (environmental DNA) to identify changes in aquatic communities in response to climate change, as well as detection of new ecosystem invaders.

My full CV is available in PDF form by clicking the button below. Feel free to get in contact with me by using the form below or emailing me at: nl532@cornell.edu.