Rebecca Gibbel

2024 Short-Term Workforce Fellow

Veterinarian Rebecca (Becky) Gibbel completed her Master of Marine and Environmental Science program at the University of the Virgin Islands in 2024. Shortly thereafter, she began an 8-week Securing STEM Island Pathways Fellowship with the Coral World Ocean Reef Initiative (CWORI) at the Coral World Marine Park in St. Thomas. During this time, she contributed to the CWORI Ark program, an in-land coral nursery for rare and endangered species. CWORI is particularly focused on the highly endangered Dendrogyra cylindrus corals, which are now extinct in Florida. While the species remains at risk in the Virgin Islands, a sampling is thriving thanks to this living coral laboratory.

Although Gibbel had volunteered and interned with the CWORI Ark program in the past, the fellowship allowed her to expand her involvement as a full-time contributor – an opportunity that proved to be a game changer for both her and the program. Reflecting on her experience, she noted, “Initially it was not clear whether these sensitive corals would survive in closed artificial environments, but after helping to get the aquarium system established I was happy to report that the corals were thriving and growing well. We kept our fingers crossed that they would spawn so that new, potentially stronger genotypes of Dendrogyra could be created.”

Becky now serves as the Science Officer for the Caribbean Oceanic Restoration and Education (CORE) Foundation on St. John.