I am a postdoc in the Mulholland lab. I received my PhD from Stony Brook University in 2023 where my dissertation focused on zooplankton grazing on harmful algae blooms (HABs), primarily Dinophysis acuminata. I utilized a few different methodologies during that dissertation including culture experimentation, but the focus was on the Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB), which is a flow cytometer connected to a camera that takes pictures of plankton. I used this machine as a benchtop sampler for field experiments and HAB monitoring as well as deployed it in the field to capture HABs. I also explored the image post-processing data to look at the mixotrophic feeding of Dinophysis. In the Mulholland lab I am continuing my work with the IFCB doing HAB monitoring both benchtop as well as deploying the IFCB on the Chesapeake Bay Cruise program cruises that happen monthly. I am also expanding from a HAB focus into broader phytoplankton ecology and biogeography realms by looking at IFCB data that has already been collected within the Mid Atlantic Bight and connecting it with hydrographic parameter data that was collected concurrently over large timescales to see how the community, which may or may not include HAB species, has changed with respect to changes in climate. Additionally, I will be working with the IFCB data that is being collected on the new OOI Pioneer Array off of Cape Hattaras that was deployed in 2024. I am interested in using the vast amount of IFCB data that has been and continues to be collected to investigate phytoplankton dynamics, as well as explore innovative ways to use these types of data.