Lab Members
Olivia Daniels
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My name is Olivia Daniels, I am currently an M.S. Candidate in the Crocker lab. I am passionate about the conservation of large mammals, and this passion has led me to work on marine mammal stress physiology in graduate school. I developed these interests through work in wildlife rehabilitation, the Santa Cruz Puma Project, and field programs I have both participated in and led in northwest Montana. I am a Bay Area native; outside of school, I enjoy running, biking, and gardening. I look forward to continuing my education and work with the Crocker lab, and hope to meld ecology and physiology as a way of informing conservation throughout my career.
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Tailyn Brown
I’m Tailyn and my passions include marine mammals, lab work, and curling up with a good book or sudoku with my cat spice. I love trying/learning things and am so happy I get to do this while in grad school. I grew up all over the place and traveled quite a bit before getting my bachelor’s in marine biology from UCSC and pursuing my master’s at Sonoma State. My project involves examining the transgenerational effects of maternal stress, specifically on pups and their development.
Marjorie Cox
Marjorie is excited to start her journey as a graduate student in the Crocker lab at SSU. Her academic background is in the fine arts, but Marjorie has been working as a marine mammal biologist for the past several years for various organizations: such as Point Reyes National Seashore Association, NOAA, The Marine Mammal Center, and the California Academy of Sciences. Her happy places are remote islands full of pinnipeds and birds! Marjorie's thesis will focus on developmental plasticity of northern elephant seals during the post-weaning fast in relation to water access.
Jorie Carvhalo
Jorie is a first year M.S. student in the Crocker Lab here at Sonoma State University. She received her B.A. in Theatre in 2008 and her B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior in 2020, both from Arizona State University. She spent the past year working as a research associate at the National Marine Mammal Foundation, where she studied the seasonal effects of various hormones in beluga whales. Jorie is interested in stress physiology and how marine mammals are mitigating obstacles in a changing environment. On her days off, Jorie can usually be found scuba diving the local Pacific dive sites or hiking the trails of NorCal.
Barbie Halaska
My name is Barbie Halaska and I am a 3rd year graduate student. I have a huge passion for marine mammals and have never minded getting my hands dirty. I have been in the field for about 10 years and currently work with dead marine mammals investigating their anatomy and disease etiology. This work has led me to pursue a master’s degree in biology. My project is focused on stranded gray whales; I am analyzing their blubber physiology through histological examination, total lipid content and fatty acid profiles to understand how blubber changes throughout their migration and from year to year.