Samara is a Junior Specialist Field Biologist with the Sentinel Site for Nature (SSN), where she supports statewide biodiversity monitoring through the UC Natural Reserve System. She first became involved with SSN as a researcher at the Chorro Creek Ecological Reserve, where she gained hands-on experience deploying cameras and acoustic recorders, collecting eDNA samples, and analyzing wildlife data using BirdNET and Wildlife Insights. Building on that foundation, she has also worked on pronghorn population surveys in the Carrizo Plain and black oystercatcher monitoring along California’s central coast. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Management and Protection with a concentration in Wildlife Biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Samara is excited to apply her field and research experience to SSN’s mission and to help shape the future of biodiversity conservation in the face of climate change.