Sandra Schleier

Sandra Schleier currently works as a volunteer in a coral aquaculture farm in Culebra, P.R. where she helps increase Acropora cervicornis populations to restore reef conditions and fish populations. She worked as a field and lab research assistant for the International Institute for Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico. She interned in summer 2011 at Shannon Point Marine Center working with the symbiotic relationship between two sea anemones of the genus Anthopleura and their micro-algal symbionts. In 2010 she interned for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama working with the effects of predator cues and hatching plasticity in the red-eye treefrog Agalychnis callidryas. Schleier is an experienced diver and has volunteered in various underwater research projects. She is member of the Speleological Society of Puerto Rico and wishes to pursue a PhD. in marine cave exploration and ecology research.    

Schleier is a junior undergraduate from the University of Puerto Rico majoring in Marine Coastal Biology. She will be graduating in May 2013 and will continue towards her PhD.