Through the AMSA club at FIU I had the opportunity to apply to a research project. I knew I wanted to gain experience, and so I decided to apply for the Marine Macroalgae Research Laboratory. This research is run by Dr. Ligia Collado-Vides. 

I had the opportunity to work directly under Lowell Iporac, who is a Ph.D Candidate studying marine macrophyte-invertebrate epifaunal interactions. Alongside other volunteers, the goal of the research is assessing invertebrate epifaunal habitat preference in a shallow coastal bay.  Part of my responsibilities included separating invertebrates into different species. Additionally, I am responsible for weighing the dry and wet biomasses from the macroalgaes. After collection and removal of the biomasses, an analysis of macrophyte and invertebrate epifaunal assemblages is performed.