I completed my undergraduate degree with honours in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley (1994) and a PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara (1999). Following postdoctoral appointments with the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Study of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) and CSULA, and service as Research and Outreach Coordinator for the Santa Barbara Coastal Ecosystem LTER, I moved to Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington in 2002. I have held a continuous academic appointment as Lecturer (2002-2004), Senior Lecturer (2005-2010), Associate Professor (2011-2015), and Professor (2016–present).

I am currently Associate Dean of Postgraduate Research in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Te Herenga Waka.  I also serve on the Diving and Boating Committee / Diving Control Board and the Board of the Faculty of Graduate Research. I hold an Affiliate Faculty appointment at the UC Gump Research Station in French Polynesia, reflecting long‑standing research engagement in the central South Pacific.

From 2004–2018 (and again in part of 2024), I served as Director of the Coastal Ecology Lab, and proposed and led the development of the University’s multi‑million‑dollar marine biology teaching and research facility on Wellington’s south coast (completed 2009). This facility underpins long‑term experimental and observational research programmes and supports national and international collaboration.

My past professional service has included editorial roles with Oecologia (2007-2015), Frontiers in Marine Science (2014-2016), Ecology (2016-2021), and Ecological Monographs (2016-2021), as well as panel service for the Marsden Fund (Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity, 2013-2014) and the MBIE College of Assessors (2023-2025). I have held Visiting Researcher positions at the Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement (CRIOBE, based at Université de Perpignan) and Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM, based at Université de Montpellier), strengthening collaborative links with European research networks.

I have led five Marsden‑funded research programmes as sole Principal Investigator, and have extensive experience supervising postgraduate research across marine ecology, population biology, and evolutionary ecology.