Shirley has been a CNS graduate fellow since 2011. She is a student in the Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology department. Her biological research takes place in Moorea, French Polynesia where she investigates how sea urchin population dynamics affect local coral reef community structure. As an undergraduate at Colgate University, she double majored and received bachelor’s degrees in both Mathematics and Biology. Shirley also holds a masters degree in Applied Statistics from UCSB. Her work with Rich Appelbaum and IRG2 examines the development of nanotechnology in emerging economies, mainly concentrating on China.