Current Research
As a graduate student and research assistant, my research focuses on using genomic techniques and environmental data to better understand how corals respond to changing ecological conditions. My work is housed within the Roberts Lab at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Science as a part of the NSF funded E5 Coral project.
Background
I graduated in 2015 from Boston University where I studied Porites coral epibionts on mangrove prop roots. After graduation, I held various positions in the fields of genomics and environmental remote sensing. My genomics work varied from the application of gene expression experiments in a medical setting to using eDNA to identify the presence of aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes. For the past 3+ years before starting graduate school in the Roberts Lab, I worked as a part of the NASA Applied Sciences Capacity Building program where I completed various remote sensing projects, emphasizing the practical applications of satellite remote sensing for natural resource management.
Contact
Email: zbengt@uw.edu
Office: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, FTR 134
Mailing address: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, 1122 NE Boat Street, Room 116, Seattle, WA 98105