Amina Shenasa

Amina is a first-year master's student advised by Dr. Pete Raimondi in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Her research focuses on the transition between two alternative states of kelp forest habitats— kelp forests and urchin barrens. Her work centers around developing passive monitoring tools to anticipate coastal ecosystem change. Specifically, she aims to integrate ecological theory, soundscape ecology, and machine learning to address a key gap in ecosystem monitoring: the detection of dynamic but critical ecological transitions. Amina recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BS in Marine Biology and is continuing her work as a part of the 4 + 1 Master's program.

Amina is also passionate about algae and the preservation of algal specimens. She worked as a student assistant curator for the UCSC Marine Macroalgal Herbarium during her undergrad, where she collected, preserved, and archived specimens. She has also hosted several algae pressing workshops across the western coast, teaching local communities about common intertidal and subtidal species, and the practice of pressing algae as both a method to preserve specimens and a creative art form. 

Email: amshenas@ucsc.edu