People

Trainees - Cohort 1

Leslie Guerrero

  • PhD Student, Integrative Genetics and Genomics
Leslie earned a bachelor's degree in Genetics and Genomics, with a minor in Statistics, from UC Davis in 2015. She seeks to bring her background in genetics to bear on studying the phylogenetic relationships between threatened marine species and to assess their genetic diversity, and to apply this knowledge to development of policy solutions.

Leah Mellinger

  • PhD Student, Graduate Group in Animal Biology
Leah earned a master’s in Ecology and Sustainability from CSU Stanislaus. She seeks to conduct doctoral research on forage fish and their physiological response to environmental stressors, with a goal of a research career with NOAA.

Eliza Oldach

  • PhD Student, Graduate Group in Ecology and NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Eliza graduated from College of the Atlantic with a degree in Human Ecology in 2015. After graduating, she embarked on a Fulbright fellowship studying intertidal ecology in New Zealand. Since returning, Eliza has chased the threads of human ecology and marine biology through work with the Ecological Society of America, Acadia National Park, and coastal communities in Downeast Maine. She aims to continue this pursuit in graduate school, studying social and ecological conditions that improve coastal community resilience and adaptation.

Priya Shukla

  • PhD Student, Graduate Group in Ecology
After a master’s degree in Ecology from San Diego State University, Priya made the trek back north as a technician within the BOAR project at Bodega Marine Laboratory. In her doctoral research, she seeks to use commercially and recreationally harvested mussels and oysters as archives of environmental change by linking their physiology to acute oceanographic events associated with climate change.

Kaiwen Wang

  • PhD Student, Agriculture and Resource Economics
Kaiwen is a current Ph.D. student in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department of UC Davis after achieving a master’s degree in the same program. He is interested in the economics of aquaculture, fisheries management, and environment regulation. He hopes to integrate theoretical modeling, empirical strategy, and policy analysis in research pertaining to ocean sustainability.