Assistant Professor, Florida Institute of Technology

Dr. Toby Daly-Engel’s research uses a combination of remote sensing, genomics, field ecology, and modeling to study mating systems, habitat use, and the impacts of climate change on sharks and other highly migratory marine species.

She obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii in 2009, where she used genetics to describe the evolution of mating behavior in sandbar and Galapagos sharks. She expanded on these concepts with a sex role-reversed insect model, the giant water bug Abedus herberti, as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona beginning in 2009, before becoming an assistant professor at the University of West Florida in Pensacola in 2012.

She moved to Melbourne in 2017 to become the director of the Shark Conservation Lab at Florida Tech, where she and her students work with collaborators from state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and public groups to identify novel sources of biodiversity and develop practical scientific applications for fisheries management while working to increase representation for women in science, especially women of color.

Dr. Daly-Engel has mentored dozens of students, authored over 35 manuscripts, discovered three new shark species, and been featured on several specials for Discovery’s Shark Week and the National Geographic Channel, most recently appearing as host of the series When Sharks Attack…and Why in July 2023 on Disney+.