brooke

PERSONAL BIO (My non-linear path):

Brooke is the oldest child of Paul and Megan Flammang and has 3 brothers and 1 exceptional sister. Born in Bridgeport, CT and raised in Old Saybrook, CT, she knew early on that she loved marine science. After accidentally getting a perfect score on the CT State Mastery test in the 3rd grade, Brooke was sent to a special nerd-school for a year. Then the family moved to Old Saybrook, and Brooke got to go back to public school. The caveat to that being she ended up in the TAG (Talented and Gifted) program. When she was 10 years old, she came home from school and told her mother "I want to be a marine biologist". Everyone had a good giggle about it, Brooke went to the library, and they thought that was the end of that. As a TAG project in the eighth grade, Brooke had to learn more about a career she might be interested in the future - she of course chose marine biology. At 12 years of age she could become a certified SCUBA diver with the guidance of a parent. After much pleading, she finally managed to convince her father to go with her, who although once being a professional waterskier, really didn't like to be in the water too much. Or perhaps her mother made him go. We may never know.

In high school, Brooke had the extremely good fortune of having a fantastic marine science teacher, Mr.Charlie Renshaw. Besides not giving her a hard time for having the only class she ever skipped (and it was by accident), he humored her scientific interests by arranging for her to get a dogfish to dissect. This made the entire science wing smell awful and Brooke was forced to finish her dissection in the parking lot out back. Of course, the smell did not at all compare to the time Brooke tried to keep a salt-water aquarium in her bedroom, but her parents don't like to talk about that. Her senior project was a study of the comparative morphology and muscular anatomy of sharks and dolphins at Mystic Marinelife Aquarium.

She received a full scholarship to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she earned her Bachelor's degree. New Jersey is not her favorite place, but FDU made up for it by sending her to Hawaii and Shoals Marine Lab for a summer each. Her senior year, she worked in a dive shop and became certified in every kind of techincal diving possible. To graduate with Honors, she also completed a thesis on the coagulation enzymes in shark blood; research she did as an intern at Mystic Marinelife Aquarium.

Returning to CT to help take care of her grandfather before he died, Brooke got a job as an EMT and dive rescue team member. But she knew she wanted to get back to school and pursue a career in academia. She did really well on the GRE's and began crashing scientific meetings. Unfortunately, she had no good references and did not get into any of the schools she applied to the first year. Or the second year. Fed up, she wrote a letter back to the schools she had been rejected from and decided to move to California to see if she could get into Moss Landing Marine Labs. Friends she had made through scientific meetings knew some students there who needed a roomate, so she packed her jeep and started driving. She transfered with her company as an EMT and began taking classes at MLML independently. In Greg Cailliet's ichthyology class she began her thesis research on deep-sea catsharks, and by the second semester he was forced to accept her into his lab. Mostly because she wouldn't go away. Turned out, he had never gotten the letter she had sent after being rejected, but as he stated at her defense, had he received it he would have accepted her immediately.

Central California is an expensive place to live, especially if you are a graduate student with no funding who has to pay tuition (out-of-state, even). So Brooke decided to go to Paramedic school at the same time as taking her graduate school classes. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Many months later, this gave Brooke the opportunity to work the overnight shift as a paramedic, get 4 hours of sleep, and go into the lab to "science" until she had to go to work again. All that being said, she finished her MS in 2.5 years. The real impetus in finishing was a combination of lack of sleep and wanting to apply to PhD programs without having to take the GRE's again (her perfect score on the analytical portion was reaching the 5 year expiration point and was phased out of the new exam). Lara Ferry-Graham, an adjunct at MLML teaching functional morphology, alerted Brooke to a summer program at Friday Harbor Marine Labs, where she met Beth Brainerd and Adam Summers. Lara also suggested she meet George Lauder, who studied fish locomotion - an area Brooke really wanted to pursue.

Brooke timidly ventured back to the east coast to interview with Beth and George for PhD study. Somehow, George thought it was a good idea for Brooke to give an impromptu talk to his lab about her research at FHL. Brooke really wasn't in a position to say no, and winged it. Mortified, she then hid in the MCZ fish department looking at catsharks for the rest of her visit. Apparently her talk wasn't as bad as she feared, since George accepted her into his lab. Brooke is currently in her third year of her PhD and so far things are going along swimmingly. Yes, bad pun. When not at the lab, Brooke is often found sailing with her husband Allan, on their 30 ft C&C Redwing, Sweet Caroline.