Sophia Piper is a second year student in the Rutgers University Ecology and Evolution PhD Program. My research journey began with turtles in New Jersey salt marshes, continued through undergraduate in freshwater ecology and ecotoxicology, estuarine surveying post-undergraduate, and detoured through some water quality work, before finally landing in marine ecology. My interests lie broadly in interactions in and among marine benthic ecosystems. My research focuses on interactions between hard substrate ecosystems (like reefs) and soft substrate ecosystems (like sandy-bottom). This research is relevant for understanding the effects of offshore wind farms on marine ecosystems, so some of my fieldwork happens on a boat in the current offshore wind lease areas. I am also starting to think a bit about clam predation on the continental shelf as a future project.