I am a Maryland native and UMD (College Park) alumna rambling on through graduate school at North Carolina State University. I arrived at studying striped bass by way of environmental science coupled with a drive to contribute to the sustainable development of aquaculture. Aquaculture has a great potential to not only be a source of animal protein and economic opportunity for agricultural operations in the United States, but also to be a key component of addressing global food security issues. For both of these objectives to be met, appropriate research, production practices, and communication with natural resource management is and will continue to be paramount!
My dissertation work at NCSU is focused on identifying heritable growth traits in pure and hybrid striped bass through transcriptomic analyses. The ultimate goal of this project is to establish and implement selective breeding protocols that would be made possible through the identification of which growth traits come from which parent (i.e. male vs. female, striped bass vs. white bass). This project is funded by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, which was established as part of the Farm Bill in 2014 to support food and ag. research, foster partnerships and collaboration, and promote the mission of the US Department of Agriculture.
