Team

As a Master’s student and graduate research assistant in the SOSF Shark Research Center and Guy Harvey Research Institute, Shelby is able to combine her dual passions for marine biology and genetics, contributing to vital conservation research. Growing up in Chicago, Illinois, she would frequently visit the Field Museum of Natural History, Shedd Aquarium and local nature centre. From a young age she was captivated by the natural world, science and the ocean. On family vacations to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, she could often be found with field guides in hand, identifying creatures she observed on the shore or captured in a net.
Shelby later returned to Myrtle Beach to pursue a Bachelor of Science in marine science at Coastal Carolina University. Her love for sharks and rays intensified as she worked on Coastal’s shark research vessel and stayed at the Bimini Biological Field Station. In the latter part of her undergraduate studies, she completed an internship at the Field Museum of Natural History generating DNA barcodes for neotropical fishes. It was there that she realised how powerful a tool genetics is when applied to ecology and conservation. This experience inspired her to focus her research on the genetics and genomics of sharks and rays.