Back to the Sea, and other thoughts

A dear friend once said: “Jill is going to grow up, live near the ocean, and help people figure out how to be nice to it.” Every day I try to work toward that goal.

I’m a new resident of San Diego, where I’m pursuing a PhD in marine biology at the Scripps Insitute of Oceanography.  The exact topic of my dissertation is TBD, but it’ll be on some aspect of coral reef community ecology.  I study how multiple parts of the ecosytem interact with each other and react to anthropogenic stressors (like fishing, pollution, climate change, etc.).

I received a Master of Marine affairs at the University of Washington where I studied networks of marine protected areas in the Philippines through a social science lens.  Living in Seattle, I became an avid bike commuter and farmers’ market aficionado.  I hold a BA in Ecology and Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College, where I alsogot hooked on SCUBA diving and the pleasures of organic farming.

After college, I traded in New England winters for clear ocean water at The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute in The Bahamas. There, I taught brilliant students to have fun with statistics and respect the Queen Triggerfish, talked a lot with fishermen about a proposed marine reserve, and learned, among other important things, how to drive a manual transmission, kill mice, and make an excellent Bloody Mary.

Photo by a 5-year-old boy. This is my "please give my camera back!" face.