STRI Fellow and Ph.D. candidate University of Hong Kong
Presently, I am a Ecology and Biodiversity Ph.D. candidate in Dr. David Bakers Coral Biogeochemistry lab at the University of Hong Kong, Swire Institute of Marine Science. My dissertation research focuses on one simple overarching theme: What were coral assemblages like during Hong Kong’s past? To answer this, my work combines classical paleo and historical ecology techniques to collect marine sub-fossils, characterize their diversity changes, and then I use various biogeochemistry methods to extract isotopic information and see what stressors have been impacting them through time.
While in Panama in the O’Dea lab, I will be studying coral sub-fossils collected in push-cores from the Pacific side of Panama. Through species identification and taphonomic analysis, I hope to determine if a mid-Holocene high stand (a period in the past few thousand years with slightly higher mean sea levels) occurred in Panama. If a highstand did occur, I want to know what it can tell us about future sea level projections over the next 100 years due to anthropogenic climate change. In this way, we may be able to get a better understanding of what impacts sudden sea level changes have on coral communities, and what we can do to protect and give them a chance for survival.
Besides rocks and old dead things, I love weightlifting, playing sports, going on any type of outdoor excursion, brewing beer, or reading epic fantasy novels.
O'Dea Lab 
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