Lab Members
Kierra Link
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My name is Kierra Link, and I am second year graduate student in the Crocker Lab at Sonoma State University. I completed my undergraduate degree in biology at UC Davis, where I worked in a microbiology and immunology lab, and I had internships in animal behavior research. I have always loved the ocean and marine mammals, and this passion has continued to grow throughout my experience in graduate school. My thesis is on the endocrine development of sexual maturity and growth in northern elephant seals through the early stages of life. In my spare time, I love to read, bake, and spend time with friends and family!
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Wade Matern
Wade is a second year M.S student in the Crocker Lab at Sonoma State University. He received his B.S. in Marine Biology in 2022 from University of California Santa Cruz. After graduating, he worked with elephant seals as a Lab Technician for the Beltran Lab at UCSC and as a substitute teacher before joining the Crocker Lab in 2024. For his M.S., Wade is researching the impacts of stress on DNA methylation in adult male elephant seals and hopefully plans to continue his academic career and pursue a PhD after graduating from SSU. In his free time, Wade can be found cooking, playing games with friends, or enjoying nature.
Josie Slaathaug
Josie is a second year Master's student in the Crocker lab, conducting her research at The Marine Mammal Center. Josie received her BS in Marine Biology from Northeastern University in Boston in 2022, with a minor in environmental policy. Josie has been at the Marine Mammal Center since 2023, where she first started as an intern before receiving the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Award. Josie's research focuses on identity and mortality of gray whales in San Francisco Bay, and she is interested in population health, recovery, and distributional shifts as a result of climate change. When she's not in the office or captaining the research boat, Josie enjoys surfing, scuba diving, hiking, and traveling to new campsites.
Emilia Caballero
I am an incoming graduate student researcher at Sonoma State University with a passion for pinnipeds and the sustainable management of the marine habitats they rely on. I received a BS in Environmental Protection and Management and Wildlife Biology at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I interned on the elephant seal research in the Liwanag Lab at Cal Poly. I was an elephant seal research assistant with Point Blue Conservation science.