I work in the Gold Paleobiology Lab at UC Davis, where I investigate the origins and early evolution of animal life through an interdisciplinary approach that combines classical paleontology with modern molecular biology. My research combines sequence stratigraphy, carbonate geochemistry, phylogenetics, and bioinformatics to understand how early animals evolved and how biology shaped Earth's ancient environments.

 

I hold a bachelor's degree in Geosciences from Smith College and have conducted research at Harvard University and Stanford University, with my work spanning major biotic turnover events from the Precambrian to the early Paleozoic, through extensive fieldwork across North America (southern California, Utah, Montana) and Namibia. I have contributed hundreds of samples to collaborative databases and published multiple findings, including recent work on Neoproterozoic animals in Nature Communications. As digital tools are transforming research at an unprecedented pace, my work combines these modern techniques from bioinformatics and molecular biology with classical paleontology and rigorous field work to address fundamental questions about how life and Earth's environments co-evolved through deep time.