Jessica's passion for marine biology has taken her far from her land-locked origins of Wisconsin, USA.  Originally, her research focused on the effects of climate change on the physiology and behavior of marine animals. In 2008, she was awarded an NSF grant to travel to Shannon Point Research Station, Washington, USA, in order to research the effects of reduced ocean pH on temperate sea anemone bleaching.  In 2010, she earned a graduate degree with honors from James Cook University, Australia, where she examined the interactive effects of increased sea surface temperatures and dissolved CO2 on the foraging ecology of juvenile coral reef fish. In 2012, Jessica was awarded a full scholarship to commence her PhD Using coral reef butterflyfishes as a model system, she employs observational, pharmacological, and molecular techniques for examining the adaptive and neurobiological basis for social monogamy in fishes. She is collaboratively supervised by Prof. Morgan Pratchett and Dr. Stefan Walker (ARC CoE, CRS, James Cook University, Australia), Dr. Lauren O'Connell (Harvard University, USA) and Dr. Michael Berumen.