Hello! Let me introduce myself.

My name is Olivia, and I am an early career marine biologist!

I received my bachelor’s degree in 2021 from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo in Marine Sciences. During this degree, I participated in Pismo clam monitoring and research. I also volunteered at the local aquarium in animal care and as an exhibit hall docent. Through this experience, I fell in love with communicating science to the public.

After achieving my bachelor’s degree, I worked as a field scientist in various sectors of fisheries science. I spent two summers in Alaska and British Columbia participating in Pacific halibut population surveys. In between, I worked as a fisheries observer in the Southern California swordfish fishery. These positions gave me a lot of inspiration for my artwork!

At this point in my career, I knew that I wanted to further my education and pursue a master’s degree. I felt that gaining international experience would be valuable for my development as a scientist. I was accepted to the University of Bremen’s marine biology program in 2022.

Within this degree, I had the amazing opportunity to spend time in Greenland while I studied seafloor communities in an Arctic fjord. I compared taxonomic observations with oceanographic parameters to determine what factors might affect species composition throughout these environments. I also considered how, with this in mind, climate change may impact these communities.

Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

  • This image was captured on the back of a fishing vote. Visible in the foreground is the top of a logbook, and a crossed pair of legs wearing fishing boots. The photographer is sitting in a pile of ropes. Ahead of the photographer is a railing at the stern of the boat. Two ropes with streamers trail from the back of the boat and into the water, used to deter birds while setting longlines. The water is a dark grey color. The boat is moving through a channel, with land visible on either side and behind the boat. The shores are thickly lined with green trees.
  • A landscape photo of snowy mountains next to the ocean. This photo was captured by LivInSeas in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord in Greenland. It's sunset, and the sky is hazy with soft blue and fuzzy pink clouds. The mountains and snow are reflecting a slight pinkish hue as well. There are two main mountains visible, one on the left and one on the right side of the screen. The ocean sits in the foreground.
  • An image taken from the water in Alaska. The sea in the foreground of the image is almost greenish, and a kayaker is visible on the left side of the photo in a red kayak, her paddle tilted up into the air as she moves closer to shore. The trees on shore are dense, green firs, characteristic of coastal British Columbia, Canada.
  • The colorful houses of Nuuk, captured from the sea. The houses all look like colorful jewels situated on a rocky, brown shoreline. Many homes and buildings in all shades of the rainbow sprawl from the left to the right side of the frame. The ocean in the front of the photo is grey, and it is a cloudy day. In the background are two short, sloping snow-covered mountains.
  • The red cliffs of Helgoland. The image features tall red cliffs in the foreground, the image captured from atop the cliffs nearby. One large rock pillar looms next to the cliffs, reaching a similar height. The sky is clear and blue, with clouds on the horizon, and the sea behind is greyish blue.
  • A scientific setup on a research cruise. The workbench and wall behind is aluminum, and a blue grip texture pad sits on the table. The table has a setup with tubes and six funnels, with plastic measuring vials sat in front of each funnel. This setup vacuums water through filters, leaving phytoplankton behind on the filters for carbon analysis.