University of Washington
B.S. Marine Biology
2023 

I am originally from Hawai'i and moved to Washington to pursue further education. I did two years of undergrad at Shoreline Community College and two years at the University of Washington, where I obtained my bachelor's in Marine Biology. I have worked at several labs, including a mosquito lab focused on sensory neurobiology and a zooplankton lab that collected samples from Alaska lakes to determine water quality. I had my first large project at Friday Harbor Labs, where I looked at the diet and spatial analysis of salmon from Puget Sound, Seattle, and Alaska. I am pursuing my master's in fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I plan to expand my knowledge in the field and take it with me once I complete my master's. 

• Curry Cunningham

• Salmon Life Histories
• Quantitative Analysis
• Zooplankton Community Structure

With warming climates, observations and models show increased stratification in ocean waters, limiting the nutrient exchange to upper water regions, which favors smaller cells that can grow in nutrient-poor conditions. Phytoplankton dominated by smaller cells are associated with longer food chains and decreased energy transfers to higher trophic levels such as zooplankton and, soon, fish. I will use ship-based observations combined with ocean color remote sensing to quantitatively analyze climate-driven variability at the base of the food chain to assess potential impacts on higher trophic level organisms such as groundfish and salmon stocks. 

• American Fisheries Society

• LinkedIn for Sarah