Nicola studied biology and ecology as an undergraduate, working with fish, crabs, snails, and squid. After graduating, she worked with New York’s Department of Conservation, gathering data on fish populations statewide. Now she’s excited to combine molecular research with conservation as a Ph.D. student at Boston University. She uses genomic analyses to understand how corals in the Florida Keys are responding to environmental change and to predict how these populations will fare in the future. Nicola will pursue similar genomics and conservation investigations in her career as an academic researcher in the future, ideally on a tropical island.