ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ

University of Delaware
B.S Marine Science
2023

University of Delaware
B.A. Psychology
2023

Renea earned degrees in Marine Science (B.S.) and Psychology (B.A.) from the University of Delaware in 2023. Through undergraduate internships researching sperm whale population demographics in the Gulf of Mexico and odontocete group composition in the Hawaiian Islands, Renea gained exposure to passive acoustic monitoring methodologies, shaping her scientific interests to the application of non-invasive survey techniques to understand marine mammal ecology and behavior. After graduation, Renea worked at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, where she contributed to the analysis of passive acoustic data collected throughout the western North Atlantic, with a focus on the Mid-Atlantic Bight, for the presence of baleen whale calls to inform distribution trends and habitat use patterns in areas of high human-wildlife conflict. Outside of eavesdropping on marine mammals, Renea enjoys exploring the ocean recreationally, mainly through tidepooling, snorkeling, and scuba diving.

• Hannah Myers

PUBLICATIONS LIST HERE

Utilizing long-term passive acoustic datasets paired with remotely-sensed and modeled oceanographic data (e.g., sea surface temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll concentrations), Renea’s research examines the acoustic occurrence of marine mammals in the Gulf of ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ and what environmental factors drive their habitat use patterns. This work leverages AI tools to detect and classify marine mammal vocalizations, reducing total analysis time and allowing for the study of multiple species across recording sites and years. The results of Renea’s research will help predict how marine mammal distributions may shift in the face of ongoing climate change, while also establishing a baseline with which to compare future results to assess spatiotemporal differences.

• EMERGE ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ Fellowship, NSF EPSCoR Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2026
• NSF GRFP Honorable Mention, 2023
• Goldwater Scholar, 2022