Nora Kandler

Master's Student

Alumni

Social Profile:

Research Interests

Nora was born and raised in Michigan, USA.  Fascinated by the ocean and SCUBA diving, but surrounded by freshwater, she moved down to Florida for her undergraduate years. After spending a semester abroad at James Cook University and a summer at the Duke University Marine Lab, she graduated in 2014 from the University of Miami with a BS in marine science, biology, and chemistry.  Her undergraduate thesis focused on geology and sent her to the Dominican Republic to research ancient coral extinction and turnover in Caribbean reefs. 

Nora then joined the Reef Ecology Lab in the fall of 2014 in pursuit of a Master’s degree.  It was there that she discovered her inner sponge nerd.  Her current work involves looking at the microbial communities and macro-infauna of a few species of sponges in the Red Sea.  Nora has also become skilled with fish otoliths and has an additional side interest in climate change and ocean acidification.  Outside the world of research, Nora has a passion for travel, music, seafood, rock climbing, and the outdoors. Find her on twitter @PoriferaNerd​​​.