Education

• B.S. Texas A&M University
• M.S. Texas A&M University

Experience

Over the course of my career, I have straddled the gap bridging commercial aquaculture and applied aquaculture research.  This has encompassed working in both largeintegrated commercial crustacean and fish culture facilities and university research laboratories in Texas, New York, Belize, and Virginia.

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the ecology of near zero discharge outdoor commercial
culture systems and the impact of microbial populations on the water quality and the nutrition
and health of the target crop species. Additionally, I am interested in the design of high-density
culture systems for the maintenance and growth of a wide variety of aquatic organisms. Other
efforts have included the optimization of aquaculture system design, husbandry techniques, and
nutrient management to increase yields and harvest predictability; and to increase the long-term
ecological and economic sustainability of commercial aquaculture operations.

Goals

Currently my goals are to apply the same optimization strategies used to improve
commercial operations in order to enhance the health and well-being of aquatic organisms being
researched at the lab, while minimizing the impact of these operations on the local environment.
In doing so, these efforts should enhance the ability of VIMS research scientists to reliably
perform quality research while engaging our students in all aspects of the investigational process,
and thus facilitating the transfer of new investigational findings to both the broader academic
community and our constituent groups within the Commonwealth of Virginia and federal
government.