I do my best work in collaboration, usually asking some version of the same question: how do human activities shape ecosystem health? I started out in marine and estuarine systems, tracking how contaminants move through water and turn up in places you wouldn’t expect.

In grad school, I worked with the National Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, analyzing dolphin tissue for persistent organic pollutants. Finding pesticides and flame retardants in open-ocean predators was an alarming lesson in how far our choices travel.

Afterward, I joined the Land-Use Coastal Ecosystems Study (LU-CES), investigating how microorganisms respond to nutrient runoff near golf courses and residential developments, again asking questions about land use, water quality, and ecosystem function.

I currently work with Dr. Iyengar (Biology) and the City of Allentown on local stream health, bringing students, faculty, and community partners together to trace how everyday choices on our lawns and streets show up in the water running through our own neighborhoods. My research students also study soil health, working with The Seed Farm and Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) to examine soil quality at local organic farms.