Isla Mar Research Expeditions is a Puerto Rico-based marine science education company that specializes in training student scientists and citizen scientists in skills needed to survey coral reef ecosystems. Their innovative tablet application, Artedi, was designed to teach users how to identify fish while underwater through intuitive technology to match fish illustrations with what they are seeing in real-life. IntelliReefs & Reef Life Foundation will be working with Isla Mar to provide training to NGOs and local students, providing a sustainable monitoring solution for fish communities on IntelliReefs and throughout the Caribbean.
Evan and Chelsea Tuohy met in Florida during a college field course which sparked their journey into graduate education that landed them in Puerto Rico. While in graduate school, they started hosting and leading field courses for visiting universities, using their expertise of the marine ecosystem to hone their skills as field instructors.
Realizing that they thoroughly enjoyed teaching young scientists in a hands-on field setting, they decided to start a company centered around this concept. Isla Mar Research Expeditions was founded in 2015 with the mission to train the next generation of marine scientists. Now, each summer Isla Mar hosts students from around the United States and locally from Puerto Rico, introducing them to the techniques used to study coral reefs and fish communities which gives these young scientists the skills they need to pursue a career or graduate education in marine biology.
Although Isla Mar has since grown to include independent and collaborative research, Evan and Chelsea still find that the most fulfilling aspects of their career are the opportunities they have to teach and mentor students and their community.
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