Kristen graduated from the University of California – Santa Barbara in 2003 where she majored in Aquatic Biology. After completing her undergraduate degree, she worked in the Antarctic as a research diver. Kristen then worked as a commercial fisheries observer in the Pacific Northwest and Monterey Bay before starting her graduate work at MLML under Dr. Rick Starr in the fall of 2005. Her research is focused on movement patterns and ecology of black rockfish in central California. This research is being conducted as part of a tag-recapture study of nearshore fishes near Bolinas, CA as well as an acoustic tracking study in Carmel Bay, CA.

Kristen recently returned from a 6 month field stint in the Antarctic studying Gentoo, Adelie, and Chinstrap penguins. Read about her experiences here:

Life in Antarctica

In addition to her graduate studies, Kristen spends her spare time surfing, fishing, and biking.