I received a B.S. in Marine Science and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. in Marine Science with a specialization in Coastal Geology from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. In 2008, I started an NRC Postdoctoral Research Associateship at the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. In 2010, I began working for the USGS at the Saint Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, where I explore how geologic variability influences coastal system change over a range of time scales. Using geophysics, remote sensing, and sediment sampling, I characterize coastal geology and identify relationships between geology and coastal system response to climate and storms. Also, I integrate observations with models to quantify the impact of existing variability on future coastal response.