Cara Simonsen is originally from La Verne, CA but has found her a new
home in San Diego.  Just this past June, she graduated from UCSD with
a  B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, & Evolution.  She is now a graduate
student in the integrated BS/MS program at UCSD to obtain her Master’s
in Biology.  While in the Sandin lab, her thesis will be focused on
herbivore fish foraging behavior on coral reefs and their relationship
to the benthic community. Plans to do photo-quading, observational
assays and baseline analysis on the reefs in Curacao will also be part
of her project. Cara started off working as a BISP 199 student in the
spring quarter conducting a literature review on coral resilience and
recovery.  In her free time, she likes to go to the beach, play and
watch sports, and just be outdoors.  Her favorite marine organisms are
sea turtles and christmas tree worms and one day hopes to scuba dive
at the Great Barrier Reef.