I have broad interests in whale biology, behaviour, ecology, and conservation; and the ways in which genetic analyses can be used to obtain a better understanding of these topics. However, I am particularly interested in how the genetic characteristics of individuals impact their reproductive success, health, and survival; and how these individual-based effects combine to shape overall population patterns and trends.

I am a PhD candidate in the Frasier Lab at Saint Mary’s University, where I use genetic data to address ecological questions and inform conservation efforts. Much of my research focuses on assessing how inbreeding influences mortality and population recovery in two endangered cetaceans: St. Lawrence Estuary belugas and North Atlantic right whales. In this talk, I will present my work integrating genetic relatedness data with longitudinal field data to better understand the drivers of beluga habitat use and social associations.

I am a PhD student in the Frasier lab at Saint Mary’s University. Overall, my research overlaps the fields of conservation genomics and molecular evolution, while my thesis research has been specifically aimed towards understanding the genetic basis of recovery following population decline. I am intrigued with impacts of deleterious genetic variation in nature and would be interested in continuing this research in either a conservation or clinical setting.

I am an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computing Science at Saint Mary's University. My research lies at the intersection of network science, bioinformatics, and health informatics. My work incorporates knowledge graphs and graph-based machine learning to model complex relationships, with a strong emphasis on designing explainable systems to ensure transparency and trust in data-driven decision-making.