Dr. Cara Estes - Professor

Dr. Estes earned her Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida. While at the College of Marine Science, Cara worked on research involving coral reef ecology in the Florida Keys. She used multidecadal time-series data to analyze changes among coral cover and reef-fish assemblages since the creation of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. During her career, she has worked within the NASA DEVELOP program at the Marshall Space Flight Center using remote sensing applications to monitor drought conditions in the Southeast United States. She has also worked as a Reef Fish Survey team member with NOAA Fisheries to analyze reef-fish assemblages in the northeast Gulf of Mexico. She has spent hundreds of hours on various research cruises in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and is ready to spend hundreds more. Her interests and expertise are in coral reef biodiversity, satellite oceanography and remote sensing, science communication, and ocean policy. 

Jessica Place - Professor

Jessica grew up spending most of her time swimming, boating, and scuba diving in freshwater in upstate New York. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in environmental science and a Master’s in biology education. She attended CMERA as a student in 2019 before returning back to New York where she took on roles as a dog trainer and high school biology teacher. Her passion for sharks and ocean conservation inspired her to take the leap to move down to Florida to pursue a career where she could educate the next generations of students on marine biology while working directly with her favorite species.