Erin de Leon Sanchez is a 5th year Ph.D. student in Dr. Gretchen Hofmann’s lab at UC Santa Barbara. Her dissertation research investigates how the ecologically and commercially relevant red sea urchin, Mesocentrotus franciscanus, can rapidly adapt to marine heatwaves on the physiological and molecular level. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and California Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellow, she is working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Sea Urchin Commission to establish foundational scientific knowledge that is required for adaptive management strategies and decision-making for the red urchin fishery in future climatic conditions.
During her internship with OST, Erin is working on the Coastal Community Vulnerability & Adaptive Capacity to Ocean Acidification Project.
Prior to graduate school, Erin received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from UC Davis.
