Tiffany Paalman is a Ph.D. student in the Marine Science and Conservation program at Duke University in the Silliman Lab and a varsity student-athlete for the Duke women’s volleyball team. She is a 2023 graduate from University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, where she earned her bachelor’s of science in Animal Biology with an Environmental Science minor and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. She has been involved in a wide variety of research and conservation efforts including assessing stream water quality in rural and urban Wisconsin, detecting skeletal malformations in farmed juvenile yellow perch, and analyzing barnacle feeding behavior on the backs of cetaceans.
Tiffany is interested in the relative importance of predators and physical stress in regulating biodiversity and function on temperate reefs. By investigating the impact of predator interactions and environmental factors on foundation species mortality in coastal ecosystems, she aims to inform future conservation management practices. With her experience in nonprofits, she is passionate about community, nonprofit/NGO, and federal collaboration to excel in meeting conservation needs.
Go Duke!