Erika Iyengar

Originally from southeastern Pennsylvania, Erika crossed coasts to go to Stanford University for her undergraduate degree. Receiving her BS in Biological Sciences in 1993, Erika spent a year working in the Life Sciences division of the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco. After the museum internship ended, she moved to New York to start her Ph.D. at Cornell University.

Having fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest and marine biology, Erika does all her field research in the San Juan Islands, Washington. For her thesis research she studies the evolutionary ecology of a snail that can suspension feed or steal food from worms (a kleptoparasite). She plans to finish her degree in August, 2001. Having received her SCUBA certification in 1990, she has been an avid diver, completing over 500 dives in the past five years in the frigid waters off Washington, not to mention many in warmer climes too – thankfully! Erika’s favorite marine organisms are the invertebrate animals such as sea slugs, worms, jellies, and crabs. She loves introducing people to the underwater world and explaining the interactions that tie marine organisms together.