Biography
Stephanie holds an Honors B.S. in Marine and Aquatic Biology from the University of Central Florida and completed her Honors Thesis titled “Assessing the Impact of Storing Water Samples at Ambient Temperature on Plankton Metabarcoding.” Her current work utilizes eDNA metabarcoding to analyze plankton communities across Indian River Lagoon (IRL) sampling sites, helping evaluate molecular tools for HAB tracking and management. Stephanie plans to pursue a PhD centered on bloom dynamics, with the goal of developing effective strategies for HAB monitoring, mitigation, and prevention.