My passion for marine organisms began at a young age whilst sailing a 36ft boat from Oregon to Puerto Vallarta to the Hawaiian Islands and back to Oregon. Though it was a long journey before deciding to pursue a career in Marine biology, another life changing experience during undergrad studying Neotropical Ecology in the Amazon rekindled my love of field biology. This experience detoured my career projection from Medical school to the pursuit of a graduate degree in Marine ecology. In June of 2018 I will graduate from University of Oregon with a BS in Biology and plan to spend one year conducting field research prior to attending graduate school.