As a 2026 Grau Fellow, Kirby will work with NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Pacific Islands Region, supporting educator professional development and place-based STEM programming across the region’s sanctuaries. She will help train educators through a train-the-trainers model, support Community Resilience Challenge Projects, and coordinate hands-on STEM experiences for local students at ONMS Discovery Centers on Hawaiʻi, Maui, and Oʻahu.

Kirby is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She earned her BSc in Marine Science from Eckerd College, her MSc in Ocean Sciences from UC Santa Cruz, and her PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in December 2025, where her dissertation examined the underwater acoustic communication of Hawaiian monk seals. She was a Gates Millennium Scholar and an Elouise Cobell Dissertation Writing-Year Fellow. Kirby is also a co-founder of the nonprofit Summer Marine Mammal Intensive Learning Experiences (SMMILE), which delivers place-based marine mammal science and conservation programs to high-school students from communities that traditionally have less exposure to marine science.