Sophie Prendergast

Born and raised in Southern California, the ocean has always been a big part of my life. After completing my undergraduate studies at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington (2017) I volunteered at the Bimini Biological Field Station, following which I remained at the station as Assistant Manager (2018-2019). After gaining hands on experience working with elasmobranchs, I continued to expand my educational background and moved to the United Kingdom to complete a Masters of Research (MRes) in Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth (completed November 2020). After completing my masters I was introduced to Nuno Queiroz at CIBIO and later was accepted for a PhD with Okeanos - UAç with Dr. Nuno Queiroz and Dr. Jorge Fontes as my supervisors. My project investigates the thermoregulatory capacity of blue sharks and sicklefin devil rays and seeks to understand the influence of environmental temperature on the species 3-dimensional distribution within the Azores Archipelago.