Mariana C. León-Pérez, Ph.D.

Mariana C. León-Pérez is a PhD Candidate in Coastal and Marine System Science working with HRI Endowed Chair for Coastal and Marine Geospatial Sciences, Dr. James Gibeaut. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Science from the Metropolitan University in Puerto Rico and a M.S. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. Her Master’s thesis focused on estimating long-term changes in seagrass cover within Caja de Muertos Island Nature Reserve using satellite data and historical aerial photographs. In 2016, she was awarded the National Coral Reef Management Fellowship in which she worked for two years conducting an assessment and improving the data accessibility of the Puerto Rico Coral Reef Monitoring Program. For her dissertation research she is incorporating geospatial analysis tools and a social-ecological systems approach to understand the vulnerability of two coastal communities in Puerto Rico to Sargassum beaching events. Mariana is a scholar of the NOAA Educational Partnership Program Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems.