Originally from New Zealand, Rebecca completed her BSc Honours in Zoology and Ecology at the University of Otago in 2005. Following several years working in the Fisheries Science team at the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries and as a research assistant for the Cairo office of the WorldFish Center, she decided to begin a PhD at James Cook University, Australia. Rebecca was co-supervised by Dr. Morgan Prachett (JCU), Dr. Line Bay (JCU), and Dr. Berumen. Her research investigated geographic variation in the ecology of coral reef butterflyfishes and resilience to large scale disturbances. This included analyses of regional variation in feeding specialization among Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia.