Cara Dickman

Cara graduated from the University of Miami in 2001 with a B.A. in Marine Affairs, and with three minors in Biology, Economics, and Business Law. She began work at NCORE in June of 2001, and was accepted to the University of Miami - Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science's Masters of Marine Policy program in July 2001.  For her masters, she will be working with the Science Program at Biscayne National Park to help determine the spatial distribution of Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata within the park, as well as monitoring these colonies by setting up a GIS database to track the changes using a photographic record.

At NCORE, she has taken lead roles in organizing international workshops, such as the (i) Reefs at Risk workshop for the World Resources Institute in October 2002, (ii) NCORE's The Future of Decision Support for Coral Reef Management: Agent Based Modeling and Interdisciplinary Research in July 2002 and (iii) Priorities for Caribbean Coral Reef Research meeting in October of 2001. 

She oversaw the design and construction of the Center's state-of-the-art Videoconference and Collaborative Workroom. She presented the findings from NCORE's Research Priorities meeting at the International Coral Reef Initiative meeting by the United Nations Environment Programme in Cancun, Mexico in June of 2002. Along with the director, she has represented NCORE at the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force meetings in Washington, D.C. in December 2001, and Puerto Rico in October 2002.

As a University of Miami Science Diver, she assists in field work in the Florida Keys doing coral reef fish herbivory surveys and sample collection. In addition, Cara volunteers at Biscayne National Park as a diver to assess boat grounding damage within the Park and helps tend the Park's experimental coral reef nursery.