Paloma Cartwright grew up on a small island in The Bahamas, where she spent most of her days on the ocean. She developed a passion for nature at an early age while also experiencing firsthand the impacts of climate change on her home, surviving yearly hurricanes and witnessing the constant depletion of marine ecosystems surrounding her island. To gain the skills to solve these issues, she headed to McGill University where she completed a BA in Computer Science and Environment in June 2021. Throughout her undergraduate career, she interned with the Bahamas Sea Turtle Research Institute and the Bimini Biological Field Station Foundation - Sharklab. This work inspired her to dive into data science to develop the skills to do more with environmental data.
Paloma decided to bridge the gap between her disciplines and enrolled in the Master of Environmental Data Science program at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Having completed her Master’s degree, Paloma is now pursuing a Ph.D in Ocean Science at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Sciences. Her research under Dr. Lisa Beal focuses on understanding how the changing ocean currents are impacting sea level rise and flooding events in Florida and The Bahamas. Her primary interests lie in climate change adaptation and she is using the skills gained in both her undergraduate and master’s degrees to study a topic that has very real impacts on her home.
When Paloma is not studying outside of SALT at Rosenstiel, you can find her on the ocean somewhere. Sailing has been a guiding force in her life since she was 5 years old and stepped in a Pram for the first time. She has been sailing since then and has gone on to compete for Team Bahamas in Optimist and Laser Class from 2010 to present. While she is not sailing full time due to her studies, Paloma still finds time to be outside whether it is scuba diving or hanging on the beach with friends.
