Peyton Thomas is a postdoctoral associate in the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and Environmental Studies program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before her postdoctoral studies, she received her B.S. in Environmental Science at Baylor University where she studied microplastic ingestion and the ecology of coastal forage fishes along the Texas coast. She went on to pursue a Ph.D. in Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where her research focused on musculoskeletal growth and metabolic maintenance of juvenile sharks and skates under climate change-projected thermal regimes as well as hypoxia tolerance in coastal minnow fish species. Her research interests include marine conservation, organismal physiology and ecology under current and projected environmental variability, climate justice, and environmental policy. She is currently working with the Arctic Rivers project, where she will address climate change impacts on the growth and survival of Yukon River fishes which serve cultural and socioeconomic importance to Alaska Native communities.