The Team

Jamie became enthralled with marine science at a young age digging for sand crabs among the surf along the Crystal Coast of North Carolina. Quickly becoming a reptile lover, Jamie aspired to follow in Steve Irwin’s footsteps of animal conservation. After volunteering and interning at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, she discovered her passion for aquatic creatures and conservation biology. Jamie attended the University of South Carolina for both her B.S. and M.S. in Marine Science emphasizing in biological oceanography. While at UofSC, Jamie researched the behavioral and molecular changes during eye regeneration of the Florida fighting conch. She strives to correlate structure with function. After her Master’s, Jamie started as a Fisheries Biologist on the Sea Turtle Team at the NOAA Beaufort, NC Laboratory. There, she histologically processed sea turtle humeri bones for age determination and aided in field studies to assess fishery bycatch reduction devices in the pound net industry and to track juvenile migration habits throughout local sounds. Continuing with NOAA Fisheries, Jamie transitioned into the production ageing of fish, developing age prediction models utilizing FT-NIR spectral data to age genetically distinct stocks of white grunt from the U.S. South Atlantic. Jamie is particularly interested in utilizing FT-NIRS and epigenetics as non-lethal methods for the ageing of sea turtles. She is going back for her Ph.D. to gain analytical skills and apply them to ageing protected species for improved age estimates contributing to conservation management. Outside the office, you’ll find Jamie building things within the garden or at the dog park with her lab, Dexter.