I was born on the island of Puerto Rico. I was raised near a marine protected area, and have been involved with the ocean ever since. As I was growing up I started looking into possible future career opportunities that would get me involved with marine life. I decided to study a degree in biology to broaden my perspective in nature. I started college at the University of Puerto Rico where I became involved in marine conservation projects. I periodically volunteered in fieldwork with Alex Mercado (PhD Candidate) on the current population status of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum and its role in the recruitment of coral. My collaboration in this research consisted of monitoring and counting Diadema antillarum on specific reefs. During my second semester as an undergrad student, I took General Biology II with Dr. Anabella Zuluaga (Marine scientist). Dr. Zuluaga introduced me to the “Consejo Estudiantil Sociedad de Ambiente Marino” (Marine Environmental …show more content…
My experience at AAU was for the better, this was a smaller university and it allowed me to get more involved with my professors and different conservation projects. Since AAU was a smaller University, it lacked student project groups, and I took this as an opportunity to begin a student conservation chapter under the supervision of the Technology and Science Department. I founded the Antillean Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) with a group of students and professors. In this conservation group, I took my experiences that I had acquired during my recent years at UPR and presented them to a new student community. My vision with this project was to develop a group that would educate the Puerto Rican public in the conservation of marine resources, and monitor fish populations, coral reefs, and the possible decline in marine environment, among others. The project also included active beach cleanup as a way of improving the ocean