ABOUT
Alexandra is a PhD Candidate in Biology at Stanford University, advised by Dr. Barbara Block. Alexandra is broadly interested in leveraging technology to design creative solutions for understanding the ecology of cryptic and hard-to-study systems. At Stanford, Alexandra is co-hosted by Biology and Data Science via the Stanford Data Science Scholars program which supports graduate students pursuing data-intensive research. In her dissertation research, she uses aerial systems, image analysis, and electronic tagging to study ontogenetic shifts in movement and behavior of white sharks in the eastern Pacific. She received her B.S. in Biology with High Distinction from Duke University in 2020, where she was an Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholar and Rachel Carson Scholar. Before joining a PhD program, she worked as a Research Technician for the Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Laboratory, where she built computational pipelines for image analysis tasks.
EDUCATION
Stanford University PhD Student, Biology (2021-Present)
Duke University B.S. Biology, Magna Cum Laude (2020)
Oxford University Lord Rothermere Fellow (2017)
ACADEMIC HONORS
Data Science Scholars Fellowship (Stanford University, 2024-2026) 50% fellowship awarded to Stanford PhD candidates with dissertations focused on data-intensive research
Graduate Fellowship in Science and Engineering (Stanford University, 2021-2024) Awarded to outstanding Stanford graduate students pursuing science and engineering
Hopkins Marine Station Community Service Award (Stanford University, 2023) Awarded for ongoing service to the community
Irene Brown Summer Fellowship (Stanford University, 2023) Research grant to support womens advancement in natural science research
Friends of Hopkins Grant Awardee (Stanford University, 2023) Research grant awarded to fund collaborative drone projects
Graduation with High Distinction in Biology (Duke University, 2020) Awarded by Duke Biology faculty to top 10% of Biology theses
Angier B. Duke Scholar (Duke University, 2016-2020) Full tuition undergraduate merit scholarship and research funding
Rachel Carson Scholar (Duke University, 2018-2020) Research funding awarded for excellence in marine science
Maggie Schneider Award in Marine Biology (Duke University, 2020) Awarded by Duke Marine Lab faculty for service to the community
Bass Connections Student Research Award (Duke University, 2019) Research funding grant for salt marsh ecology work
Shaw-Worth Memorial Scholarship (Humane Society, 2016) Recognized by the Humane Society for conservation outreach work
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Stanford University PhD Candidate (2021 - Present)
Dissertation: Investigating ontogenetic shifts in movement and behavior in highly mobile marine predator Carcharodon carcharias. Tracking movement and behavior of California white sharks using biologging and remote sensing techniques in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Duke University Marine Robotics & Remote Sensing Lab Research Technician (2020- 21)
Algorithm development in Python and R to quantify ecologically relevant properties of salt marsh, oyster reef, and mangrove habitats. Provided technical advising for undergraduate and M.S. students, and responsible for custom computer builds designed to support computing tasks.
Duke Biology Department Senior Thesis Research Intern (2019 - 20)
Piloted UAS surveys of coastal shorelines to analyze shark abundance dynamics in the Rachel Carson Reserve estuary in Beaufort, North Carolina. Novel use of UAS to understand elasmobranch use of temperate estuarine landscapes. Responsible for project conception, experimental design, team management, and publication.
South Fork Natural History Museum Field Assistant, Shark Research Program (2021)
Duke University Marine Robotics & Remote Sensing Lab Research Intern (2018-19)
Duke University Bass Connections Coastal Biodiversity Field Assistant (2019)
Oceans Research Field Intern (2017)
Other: Norwalk, CT Maritime Aquarium (2016), Wildlife Sense (2016), Stony Brook University Marine Lab (2015)
PUBLICATIONS
DiGiacomo, A.E., Abraham, A.M. and Block, B.A. Non-invasive extraction of white shark swimming kinematics from unoccupied aircraft system (UAS) imagery. Wildlife Research, 2025.
DiGiacomo, A.E.; Giannelli, R.; Puckett, B.; Smith, R.; Ridge, J.T.; Davis, J. 2022. Considerations and tradeoffs of UAS-based coastal wetland monitoring in the Southeastern United States. Frontiers in Remote Sensing 2022
DiGiacomo, A.E.; Harrison, W.E.; Johnston, D.W.; Ridge, J.T. Elasmobranch Use of Nearshore Estuarine Habitats Responds to Fine-Scale, Intra-Seasonal Environmental Variation: Observing Coastal Shark Density in a Temperate Estuary Utilizing UAS. Drones 2020.
DiGiacomo, A.E.; Bird, C.N.; Pan, V.G.; Dobroski, K.; Atkins-Davis, C.; Johnston, D.W.; Ridge, J.T. Modeling Salt Marsh Vegetation Height Using UAS and Structure from Motion. Remote Sens 2020.*Named one of ten Most Notable Articles for the Journal of Remote Sensing (Fall 2020)
Andrzejaczek, S., Chapple, T.K., DiGiacomo, A.E., Jorgensen, S.J., Anderson, S.D., Castleton, M., Kanive, P.E., Reimer, T.E., White, T.D. and Block, B.A. Seasonal patterns of adult and subadult white shark presence at coastal aggregation sites in central California. Wildlife Research, 2025.
Andrzejaczek, S., DiGiacomo, A.E., Mikles, C.S., Pagniello, C.M., Reimer, T.E. and Block, B.A. Lunar cycle effects on pelagic predators and fisheries: insights into tuna, billfish, sharks, and rays. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 2024.
Ridge, J. T.; DiGiacomo, A. E.; Rodriguez, A. B.; Himmelstein, J. D.; Johnston, D. W. Comparison of 3D structural metrics on oyster reefs using unoccupied aircraft photogrammetry and terrestrial LiDAR across a tidal elevation gradient. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation 2023.
MENTORSHIP & TEACHING
Stanford HI-SURF Internship Primary research advisor for undergraduate interns performing image analysis on aerial and underwater imagery datasets (2023-2025)
Stanford REEFS Internship Primary research advisor for co-term intern extracting swimming kinematics using computer vision frameworks (2022-2024)
Santa Catalina High School Research Mentor to high school students (2022-2023)
Taking the Pulse of the Ocean (BIOHOPK 170H) Teaching Assistant (2023)
Intro to Research in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (BIO46) Teaching Assistant (2022)
Duke Biology Department Primary research advisor for undergraduate honors thesis intern (2019-2020)
Statistics 199: Introduction to Data Science Teaching Assistant (2019)
Durham School of the Arts Classroom tutor (2019-2020)
OUTREACH & COMMUNITY
HMS-MAPS Co-founder, Drone working and interest group at Hopkins Marine Station (2024-Present)
Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station Admissions Committee, Faculty Representative, Friends of Hopkins Liaison, Graduate Students Advisory Council, MARINE Network (2023-2024)
Stanford Biology Department DEI in Biology Graduate Student Representative (2021-2023)
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability DEI Graduate Liaison (2022-2023)
Future Leaders in Marine Science (FLMS) Volunteer educator (2022-2023)
Minorities in Shark Science (MISS) Friend, supporting diversity & inclusion in elasmobranch research. Mentoring and capacity-building for younger MISS members (2020-2022)
Duke Marine Lab Community Science Program Volunteer educator (2018-2021)
Duke Sustainable Oceans Alliance President & Executive Board (2016-2019)
Girl Scout Gold Award Authored & published children’s book about sharks (2016)