About Esther: Although I was born in New York, I have grown up in Hawaii since the age of 6 and proudly consider it to be my home.

I learned how to SCUBA dive at the age of 14, and made my first “open-water” dive in a cold, dark quarry in Ontario, Canada.  I think I saw two fish; however, this experience sparked my interest in marine biology, and my desire to study in warmer waters, so I began my college education in Florida with the intention of pursuing a career in marine biology.

In 2005, while I was writing the last bits of my dissertation at UH, a job offer from the Smithsonian arrived in my email inbox.  It was an opportunity to continue to do research on invasive marine species, work with some of the top people in the field of invasion biology, and help to develop a laboratory based in the San Fransisco Bay Area.

The opportunity to see many of the animals in their native environment, in addition to dissecting them, was an opportunity that few others around the world would get, and looking back at my time at UH, it is one of the unique opportunities that enhanced my education the most.