I started at Moravian University in Fall 2019, coming from Virginia Commonwealth University where I was a postdoctoral scholar funded by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Ford Foundation and I received a second fellowship from the NSF funded, Virginia Coast Reserve. Prior to that I was a Visiting Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University at Newark. My dissertation research was conducted at Joshua Tree National Park. The focus of my doctoral research was examining the role of abiotic and biotic conditions on the post drought establishment of shrubs in the Colorado Desert, California. The expertise I gained during my dissertation research was used when examining early seedling establishment of woody species post hurricane disturbance on Hog Island, Virginia during my postdoc. The past few years my research has focused on examining the role of dune elevation and grass density on shrub encroachment into grasslands on Hog Island, VA. I am currently an affiliate investigator at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research site.