Dr. Jimena Samper-Villarreal is a researcher at the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Universidad de Costa Rica - Central America. Her research focuses on blue carbon, ecology, restoration, management, and conservation of seagrass meadows and mangroves. Dr. Samper-Villarreal is currently PI on multiple projects including quantifying Blue Carbon in seagrass meadows and mangroves, the first and only seagrass restoration project and seagrass monitoring program in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP), and a 20+ year seagrass and mangrove monitoring project on the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. She also coordinates the Tropical Restoration Network, a regional collaboration of researchers, practitioners, and government officials working on restoration of blue carbon tropical habitats (mangroves and seagrasses) in the Caribbean, ETP, and Gulf of Mexico..