Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Kathryn Beheshti and Dr. Rachel Smith share the lessons learned from 25 years of monitoring the world's largest artificial reef, Wheeler Reef North 

About Drs. Kat Beheshti and Rachel Smith:

Drs. Kat Beheshti and Rachel Smith are Assistant Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute. Kat received her PhD from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz in 2021 and Rachel received her PhD from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia in 2019. As Co-Principal Investigators of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Mitigation Monitoring Program, Kat and Rachel manage the long-term monitoring of Wheeler North Reef, a 373-acre artificial reef located off the coast of San Clemente, and the San Dieguito Wetlands, a 150-acre wetland restoration located in Del Mar, as well as the reference reefs and wetlands associated with each project. Coastal marine ecologists by training, Kat and Rachel bring their expertise working in salt marsh, mangrove, oyster reef, seagrass meadow, and kelp forest systems to the SONGS program