I am an ecosystems modeler. The primary focus of my research is to understand what causes the Gulf of Maine ecosystem to change from one year to the next. My work details how alterations in conditions in the Labrador Sea impact plankton communities in the Gulf of Maine which subsequently lead to changes in populations of fish and whales.

As the Gulf of Maine Research Institute's ecosystem modeler, I develop computer models that reconstruct and forecast changes in zooplankton in the Gulf of Maine. I currently lead a project that uses satellite data and computer models to predict the location of endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of Maine. More information on research in the Pershing lab can be found on my lab blog.

I was recently awarded a grant from the Comparative Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Organization (CAMEO), a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation to study the role played by herring and other small pelagic fish in the Gulf of Maine, including the nutrients they supply to larger animals like tuna and whales and their effect on zooplankton. See the full article here.