About

A quantitative ecologist with a background in mathematics and biology, I use mathematical and statistical models, combined with data, to answer questions about ecology, conservation, and evolution.

My current work focuses on the epidemiology of infectious disease on Atlantic salmon farms in BC, Canada.  I work as a research associate with the Pacific Salmon Foundation‘s Strategic Salmon Health Initiative.  The project runs in partnership with Kristi Miller at Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Pacific Biological Station.  Using data generated with high-throughput genetic screening technology, developed for use in salmon by the Miller lab, I investigate disease progression in salmon farms and associated risks to nearby populations of wild Pacific salmon.

I also collaborate with a number of researchers to investigate demography, evolution, spatial patterns, and behaviour in species ranging from copepods to bears.  Ongoing projects include the demography and population biology of social mammals (killer whales and meerkats) and population biology of wild salmon on the BC coast.

Past work can be found on my publications page.

Background

In 2018, I completed a postdoctoral position with Chris Darimont, at the University of Victoria.  Prior to that, I was a postdoc with Mark Lewis, in the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Alberta, and Martin Krkošek, in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.  I completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2013, supervised by Tim Clutton-Brock, exploring temporal patterns of population density, group-level demography, and territoriality in meerkats.  Before my PhD, I completed degrees in mathematics (Major) and biology (Honours) at the University of Victoria (BC, Canada) in 2008.  There, I worked with Brad Anholt, modelling the evolution of sex ratio and anti-predator defences.

Here is a copy of my CV.

Teaching

Since 2014, I have taught Ecological Models and Data, at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.  This upper-level undergraduate/graduate-level course, co-developed with Steph Peacock, takes students beyond basic statistics and into the world of modern ecological models.  A large part of the course focuses on programming in R to interface scientific concepts with data.