Biography

By now, you’re probably thinking “Jack of all trades, master of none.” However, by working across many subjects, I quickly learned that data is data and the code used to work with the data is usually very similar.

This realization hit during my dissertation. My own research was in functional morphology, which is the intersection of morphology, ecology, and behavior. Lots of data in various forms. I was also assisting other graduate students in other labs, from fisheries and plant biology to climatology, with their modeling and code. Turns out, it was never a specific subject that was exciting, but the process of coding and analysis.

These days, I work with pharmaceutical data as a data programmer. Besides working with the data, I get to work on process automation, documentation tooling, and the infrastructure that makes research reproducible. Outside of work hours, I have a habit of chasing down cool biology, ecology, and conservation data to build something around. I find this rewarding because this data is often difficult to find, under-represented, and under-explored. I believe building tools and analyses around this data can bring meaningful change in these areas.

Below is a short résumé version of the story, which I’m always looking to expand.

Work Experience

Simulations-Plus
Data Programmer II

Remote
July 2022 - Present

Day-to-day responsibilities include:
- Ensuring transfer and secure storage of client data.
- Generating roughly 1000 exploratory and final tables, figures, and listings weekly.
- Developing comprehensive documentation for analysis-ready datasets and model input files, ensuring accuracy and standardization of documentation, along with compliance with regulatory guidelines.
Special assignments:
- Developed an internal R package for auto-creation of Quarto documents to display tables, figures, and listings.
- Developed a resourcing Shiny app to align planned timeline with available workloads.
- Developed a process to map files and programs to client directory systems, facilitating seamless integration and compliance with client standards while maintaining our standard directory structure.
- Serve on committees to promote best R practices, improve secure file transfer to and from clients, update the standard directory structure, and ensure define compliance with regulatory bodies.

Palouse Anglers
R/Shiny Developer (Subcontractor)

Remote
June 2025 - July 2025

Inherited and overhauled a large R Shiny application built to present diverse environmental monitoring data to a Pacific Northwest state conservation commission, informing agricultural land management decisions. Refactored to modularize, improve load time, and add new data exploration features.
- Processed and compiled data from dozens of sources including raw text parsing and external web interfaces for integration into the application.
- Designed and implemented interactive visualizations across multiple data domains using Highcharter and Leaflet, including watershed water quality metrics (e.g., stage height, temperature, dissolved oxygen, phosphorus, TSS, turbidity, bacteria, and ammonia), NRCS conservation practice tracking, and USDA land use change.
- Developed automated PDF reporting using Quarto and Typst, generating narratives and visual summaries of land use breakdowns by primary and subcategory classifications.

Florida Institute of Technology
Graduate Researcher in Quantitative Biology

Melbourne, FL
August 2016 - May 2022

Authored a 200+ page dissertation synthesizing large-scale morphological, taxonomic, environmental, and experimental analyses focused on cranial spine function across ray-finned fishes.
- Collected, cleaned, and integrated over one billion data points in R from heterogeneous sources including global species occurrence databases, high-resolution environmental raster layers, and personally collected morphological measurements.
- Extracted and engineered 100+ quantitative and qualitative morphological features describing cranial spine and body characteristics across 2,000+ ray-finned fish species. Applied hierarchical clustering to identify distinct spine morphology revealing taxonomic and cross-taxa expression patterns at the order, family, and genus level.
- Built and compared an ensemble of predictive models including logistic regression, decision tree, random forest, and gradient boosting, to identify environmental variables most strongly associated with cranial spine expression.

Florida Institute of Technology
Instructor/Graduate Teaching Assistant

Melbourne, FL
August 2016 - December 2021

Built and instructed the Applied Statistical Analysis course for the Pre-College STEM Pathway Program for 30+ incoming students. The 36-hour course provided an introduction into data management, graphing, and univariate statistical analyses in R as applied to various STEM fields.
- Trained 300+ STEM majors how to manage and visualize data, and perform univariate statistical analyses in R as part of the Biometry course (MAR2801) lab, which I designed.
- Instructed the Modeling for Ecology & Biology (MAR4517/5517) lab. This position required that I:
  - Possessed a working knowledge of various models used in biology and ecology.
  - Provided on-the-spot troubleshooting of errors in the student’s assignment code.
  - Guided students in developing their own modeling projects involving data mining, data management, analysis, and visualization.

Education

Florida Institute of Technology, Dept. Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences
Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, GPA: 3.94

Melbourne, FL
May 2022

Florida Institute of Technology, Dept. Biological Science
BS in Marine Biology & BS in Aquaculture, GPA: 3.5

Melbourne, FL
May 2016

Graduated Cum Laude

Publications

Tuohy, E., Schärer-Umpierre, M., Penrod, L., & Appeldoorn, R. (2023). Home range, space use, and vertical distribution of Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) during non-spawning times in Western Puerto Rico. Front. Mar. Sci. 10:1206070

Tuohy, E., Schärer-Umpierre, M., Penrod, L., & Appeldoorn, R. (2023). Spatial and temporal dynamics of a Nassau grouper fish spawning aggregation located on an isolated seamount in Puerto Rico. Aquat. Conserv.: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. v3-10.

Penrod, L. (2022). The Form and Function of Cranial Spines in Fishes. Theses and Dissertations. 1343. Doctoral dissertation, Florida Institute of Technology

Cramer, M. T., Fidler, R. Y., Penrod, L. M., Carroll, J., & Turingan, R. G. (2020). A spatiotemporal comparison of length-at-age in the coral reef fish Acanthurus nigrofuscus between marine reserves and fished reefs. PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0239842.

Penrod, L., Daddino, A., Diamond, K., Johansen, J., Steffensen, J. F., & Domenici, P. (2018). Take it or leave it. Fast-start modulation in the great sculpin Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus [Abstract]. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 58 (supp_1), e1-e264

--- title: "Biography" --- By now, you're probably thinking "Jack of all trades, master of none." However, by working across many subjects, I quickly learned that data is data and the code used to work with the data is usually very similar. This realization hit during my dissertation. My own research was in functional morphology, which is the intersection of morphology, ecology, and behavior. Lots of data in various forms. I was also assisting other graduate students in other labs, from fisheries and plant biology to climatology, with their modeling and code. Turns out, it was never a specific subject that was exciting, but the process of coding and analysis. These days, I work with pharmaceutical data as a data programmer. Besides working with the data, I get to work on process automation, documentation tooling, and the infrastructure that makes research reproducible. Outside of work hours, I have a habit of chasing down cool biology, ecology, and conservation data to build something around. I find this rewarding because this data is often difficult to find, under-represented, and under-explored. I believe building tools and analyses around this data can bring meaningful change in these areas. Below is a short résumé version of the story, which I'm always looking to expand. # Work Experience :::: {.columns} ::: {.column width="75%"} **Simulations-Plus** *Data Programmer II* ::: ::: {.column width="5%"}  ::: ::: {.column width="20%" .rjustify} **Remote** July 2022 - Present ::: :::: * Day-to-day responsibilities include: - Ensuring transfer and secure storage of client data. - Generating roughly 1000 exploratory and final tables, figures, and listings weekly. - Developing comprehensive documentation for analysis-ready datasets and model input files, ensuring accuracy and standardization of documentation, along with compliance with regulatory guidelines. * Special assignments: - Developed an internal R package for auto-creation of Quarto documents to display tables, figures, and listings. - Developed a resourcing Shiny app to align planned timeline with available workloads. - Developed a process to map files and programs to client directory systems, facilitating seamless integration and compliance with client standards while maintaining our standard directory structure. - Serve on committees to promote best R practices, improve secure file transfer to and from clients, update the standard directory structure, and ensure define compliance with regulatory bodies. :::: {.columns} ::: {.column width="70%"} **Palouse Anglers** *R/Shiny Developer (Subcontractor)* ::: ::: {.column width="5%"}  ::: ::: {.column width="25%" .rjustify} **Remote** June 2025 - July 2025 ::: :::: * Inherited and overhauled a large R Shiny application built to present diverse environmental monitoring data to a Pacific Northwest state conservation commission, informing agricultural land management decisions. Refactored to modularize, improve load time, and add new data exploration features. - Processed and compiled data from dozens of sources including raw text parsing and external web interfaces for integration into the application. - Designed and implemented interactive visualizations across multiple data domains using Highcharter and Leaflet, including watershed water quality metrics (e.g., stage height, temperature, dissolved oxygen, phosphorus, TSS, turbidity, bacteria, and ammonia), NRCS conservation practice tracking, and USDA land use change. - Developed automated PDF reporting using Quarto and Typst, generating narratives and visual summaries of land use breakdowns by primary and subcategory classifications. :::: {.columns} ::: {.column width="70%"} **Florida Institute of Technology** *Graduate Researcher in Quantitative Biology* ::: ::: {.column width="5%"}  ::: ::: {.column width="25%" .rjustify} **Melbourne, FL** August 2016 - May 2022 ::: :::: * Authored a 200+ page dissertation synthesizing large-scale morphological, taxonomic, environmental, and experimental analyses focused on cranial spine function across ray-finned fishes. - Collected, cleaned, and integrated over one billion data points in R from heterogeneous sources including global species occurrence databases, high-resolution environmental raster layers, and personally collected morphological measurements. - Extracted and engineered 100+ quantitative and qualitative morphological features describing cranial spine and body characteristics across 2,000+ ray-finned fish species. Applied hierarchical clustering to identify distinct spine morphology revealing taxonomic and cross-taxa expression patterns at the order, family, and genus level. - Built and compared an ensemble of predictive models including logistic regression, decision tree, random forest, and gradient boosting, to identify environmental variables most strongly associated with cranial spine expression. :::: {.columns} ::: {.column width="65%"} **Florida Institute of Technology** *Instructor/Graduate Teaching Assistant* ::: ::: {.column width="5%"}  ::: ::: {.column width="30%" .rjustify} **Melbourne, FL** August 2016 - December 2021 ::: :::: * Built and instructed the Applied Statistical Analysis course for the Pre-College STEM Pathway Program for 30+ incoming students. The 36-hour course provided an introduction into data management, graphing, and univariate statistical analyses in R as applied to various STEM fields. - Trained 300+ STEM majors how to manage and visualize data, and perform univariate statistical analyses in R as part of the Biometry course (MAR2801) lab, which I designed. - Instructed the Modeling for Ecology & Biology (MAR4517/5517) lab. This position required that I: - Possessed a working knowledge of various models used in biology and ecology. - Provided on-the-spot troubleshooting of errors in the student’s assignment code. - Guided students in developing their own modeling projects involving data mining, data management, analysis, and visualization. # Education :::: {.columns} ::: {.column width="75%"} **Florida Institute of Technology, Dept. Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences** *Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, GPA: 3.94* ::: ::: {.column width="5%"}  ::: ::: {.column width="20%" .rjustify} **Melbourne, FL** May 2022 ::: :::: :::: {.columns} ::: {.column width="75%"} **Florida Institute of Technology, Dept. Biological Science** *BS in Marine Biology & BS in Aquaculture, GPA: 3.5* ::: ::: {.column width="5%"}  ::: ::: {.column width="20%" .rjustify} **Melbourne, FL** May 2016 ::: :::: * Graduated Cum Laude # Publications Tuohy, E., Schärer-Umpierre, M., **Penrod, L.**, & Appeldoorn, R. (2023). Home range, space use, and vertical distribution of Nassau grouper (*Epinephelus striatus*) during non-spawning times in Western Puerto Rico. [*Front. Mar. Sci. 10:1206070*](https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1206070) Tuohy, E., Schärer-Umpierre, M., **Penrod, L.**, & Appeldoorn, R. (2023). Spatial and temporal dynamics of a Nassau grouper fish spawning aggregation located on an isolated seamount in Puerto Rico. [*Aquat. Conserv.: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. v3-10*](https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3994). **Penrod, L.** (2022). The Form and Function of Cranial Spines in Fishes. Theses and Dissertations. 1343. [Doctoral dissertation, Florida Institute of Technology](https://repository.fit.edu/etd/1343) Cramer, M. T., Fidler, R. Y., **Penrod, L. M.**, Carroll, J., & Turingan, R. G. (2020). A spatiotemporal comparison of length-at-age in the coral reef fish *Acanthurus nigrofuscus* between marine reserves and fished reefs. [*PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0239842*](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239842). **Penrod, L.**, Daddino, A., Diamond, K., Johansen, J., Steffensen, J. F., & Domenici, P. (2018). Take it or leave it. Fast-start modulation in the great sculpin *Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus* [Abstract]. *Integrative and Comparative Biology, 58 (supp_1), e1-e264*