About Me

Inspired by my high school teachers, I have loved science and mathematics ever since I was a student at East Hartford High School in Connecticut (USA). As an undergraduate at Williams College (Williamstown, MA, USA), I was introduced to Earth Science and the study of past climates through summer internships with Prof Heather Stoll using the geochemistry of coccoliths to reconstruct past changes in ocean biogeochemistry. I graduated in 2006 with a B.A. in Geology and Mathematics, having done a dissertation on the impact of monsoon strength on nutrient delivery and primary productivity in the Bay of Bengal. I earned my PhD in 2012 from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, supervised by Profs Laura Robinson and Olivier Marchal. My thesis, 'Constraining circulation changes through the last deglaciation with deep-sea coral radiocarbon and sedimentary ²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th', combined geochemical measurements with numerical modelling to illuminate past changes in ocean circulation and carbon cycling during the transition out of the last ice age. I was then awarded the Foster and Coco Stanback Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Environmental Science at Caltech, supervised by Prof Jess Adkins. There I continued my work on understanding the circulation dynamics of the last ice age, while also addressing new questions about weathering and the volcanic forcing of climate using sulfur isotopes. I was hired as a lecturer (assistant professor) at the University of St Andrews (Scotland) in 2014, where I have helped to establish the St Andrews Isotope Geochemistry (STAiG) Laboratory.

In my free time, I enjoy running, hiking, baking, and going to playgrounds with my toddler. I compete in races with my local running club, Fife AC, and love exploring Fife and Scotland by foot.