Yuen Azu
Coral Technician
Marine Biology & Ecology
As the lab’s Coral Technician, Yuen specializes in coral spawning and early-stage care. She can be found performing husbandry of coral larvae and juveniles in the wet lab and hatchery or diving in the field to help with various projects for the lab. In addition, she spends time in the dry lab doing DNA extractions and qPCR.
Her interest in coral began after she dove in the Florida Keys in 2019 to obtain scuba certification. While enrolled at Amherst College, she supplemented her biology major with marine courses offered at nearby colleges, two summer internships at Mote Marine Laboratory in the Coral Sexual Reproduction Program, and a semester-abroad program in the Turks and Caicos Islands. She obtained AAUS scientific diver certification at Bodega Marine Lab, UC Davis, through an internship with the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society and AAUS Foundation in an effort to become more involved in coral-spawning fieldwork. Upon graduation from Amherst in 2023, she accepted a yearlong Scientists-In-Parks internship position at Biscayne National Park, where she took part in various coral restoration projects including disease treatment, gamete collection, outplanting, substrate reattachment, marine debris removal, and genotype sampling.
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