Biology

Undergraduate Degrees:
B.S. Willamette University
B.S. Portland State University

Graduate Degrees:
M.S. Portland State University
Ph.D. University of Colorado

Advisor: Pre-Veterinary, Pre-Physical Therapy

Courses Taught:
Animal Physiology, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Muscle Physiology, Animal Behavior, and courses with the medical and dental programs at the Spokane Riverpoint campus.

Research Areas:
My research centers around the relationship between muscle physiology, energetics, and locomotor ability in ectothermic vertebrates. My current research interests emphasize the metabolic costs associated with locomotion and the ecological and behavioral consequences of these costs. My lab is currently investigating physiological and morphological adaptation to long distance migration in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) after reintroduction into the mid-Columbia and Snake River systems. Katie Wagner (MS) has recently graduated with a masters degree from my lab primarily investigating this issue. My lab is also investigating training effects on salmonids during early development in order to examine the phenotypic plasticity of the locomotor and cardiovascular systems in kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and this work is being done by Cassandra Pharr. I am currently submitting a grant to NSF titled "Cardiac performance and peripheral resistance changes associated with the water-land transition of fish and amphibians" and am pursuing that research with my colleagues at Portland State University, California State University East Bay, and the California Academy of Sciences. Our lab is also using bioenergetics as a tool to understand the interactions between metabolism, temperature, growth, and prey consumption. My recent graduate student, Chris Moan (MS) completed work modeling the bioenergetics of burbot (Lota lota) and I assisted Nick Bean (MS) in his investigation of northern pike (Esox lucius), an invasive and expanding species in the Pend Oreille River system. My dissertation work examined recovery from varying types of activity in the desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis). I have also researched the effects on developmental temperature effects on muscle, morphology, and locomotor ability in salamander larvae, and body water homeostasis in amphibians.