I am an invertebrate paleontologist interested in how the environment shapes biological communities. I am interested in how environmental change can shape evolution in deeper geologic time, but also how anthropogenic impacts are changing communities on historical time scales. Currently I am involved in a project to study the effects of the formation of the Isthmus of Panama on Neogene mollusks (clams and snails) of the Caribbean. On the conservation paleobiology side I am part of a collaborative efforts to 1) track changes in Panamanian reef communities over the past several centuries 2) use bivalve death assemblages to test remediation efforts off the coast of Los Angeles and 3) create a proxy for temperate lake health using subfossil assemblages