I'm a professor at Chapman University studying the impacts of climate change on nearshore communities, where I am also the program director of Environmental Science & Policy. Folks know me as a nudibranch specialist, but we actually do a lot more than that - we investigate how to improve community science literacy to improve equitable access to ocean and climate change governance on regional and state levels.

The reason I got into iNaturalist was for research data. I did my PhD at UC Berkeley studying Phyllaplysia taylori, the eelgrass sea slug, and the physiological effects of climate change. I'm still on iNaturalist to help my students develop a keen eye for observational ecology and share my love for natural history, but you won't see me very active personally (just a lurker!). We sometimes report our species findings, but only after we have published the studies they appear in, to protect our field sites.

Follow my lab on TikTok and Instagram for more pictures of marine invertebrates and science communication tips! @seacr_lab