The daughter of a Navy sailor, Alyssa was born in Lake Forest, IL, before moving to Niceville, FL, and finally spending most of her childhood in Norfolk, VA. Growing up near the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, and James River provided her with various opportunities to explore each and develop a keen interest in the animals found within them. These experiences, along with becoming a certified scuba diver, have helped her develop a passion for ecology, especially concerning human interactions with marine and freshwater ecosystems as well as animal behavior in general.
Alyssa is a sophomore at Virginia Tech majoring in Biological Sciences with an emphasis on Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. She is also pursuing a minor in Statistics and plans on marrying the two in her future research experiences and career. She currently works in the Hopkins lab assisting Ph.D. student Sydney Hope with her project concerning incubation temperature in wood ducks.
