Kelly Santos, M.S.

My professional experience within science research and education has been motivated by my interests in habitat restoration, community ecology, and science engagement. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Marine Biology. Prior to starting as a student at RTC, I founded and directed the science education program at Sierra Streams Institute. In the past, I have worked and volunteered with the Ocean Institute, UC Santa Cruz, Michigan State University, Tahoe Resource Conservation District, as well as Pretoma and Centro de Educación Creativa in Costa Rica. These various positions have taken me from the depths of the kelp forest to lakes in the high Sierra and allowed me the opportunity to work among scientists, teachers, environmental managers, and students. I am a student in Kathy Boyer's wetland ecology lab. My thesis project focuses on the reintroduction to the San Francisco Estuary and reproductive life history of an endangered plant species, Suaeda californica, and its use as potential high tide refuge that can help mitigate against climate change impacts such as sea level rise in salt marsh ecosystems.