Stephanie McInerny - MS student

I was born in Chicago, IL but have called Carteret County, NC my home for my entire life.  I graduated from West Carteret High School in Morehead City, NC, then attended East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, where I earned a Bachelor’s degree (B.S.) in Biology with a Marine Biology concentration in 2002.  While at ECU, I worked under Dr. Roger Rulifson at the Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources on a larval fish project funded by Weyerhaeuser, participating in extensive lab and field work.  I was very active in the ECU student subunit of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) and served as subunit historian for one year.

After graduation, I moved back to good old Carteret County and volunteered at the NOAA-NMFS lab in Beaufort, NC working under Jennifer Potts on age and growth of reef fish.  I completed an aging project on Gulf of Mexico red drum and am the primary author on an age and growth manuscript in review.  After close to a year of volunteering at the lab, I was hired on contract and started aging red snapper.  I am currently working towards a Master’s Degree (M.S.) in Marine Biology at UNCW.  My thesis work consists of age and growth of red snapper and includes a sample of 5400 fish from the years 1977-2004.  My thesis will include comparisons between fisheries, locations, and time periods.  In addition to my thesis research, I am working toward an Applied Statistics Certificate through the Math & Statistics Department at UNCW.  I have also been a TA for BIO 105 lab for two semesters during my time at UNCW.  While in school, I continue to work full time on contract for NMFS and am also participating in a fisheries research grant looking at the status of reef fish stocks on three different sites off the coast of NC.

Throughout my years as an undergraduate and graduate, I have presented several talks on red drum and red snapper at NOAA and at professional meetings.  Several of the graduate students and I worked to establish an AFS student subunit at UNCW, for which I served as president during the first year.  I am also currently serving as Secretary/Treasurer of the Tidewater Chapter of AFS.

Stephanie completed her MS degree at UNCW in August 2007.  She originally returned to her position in the age and growth section at the NOAA Beaufort Lab and now works full-time for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries in Morehead City, NC.