Kristen Marhaver

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Kristen Marhaver (born 1982 in Wichita, Kansas) is an American marine biologist who studies coral reefs, focusing on how corals live, reproduce, and how to protect them. She works as a senior scientist at the Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity (CARMABI) Marine Research Station in Curaçao.

Education and training:
- BS in Applied Biology from Georgia Tech
- PhD in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at CARMABI, studying coral ecology and reproduction

Career and research:
- Marhaver studies coral biology, reproduction, and conservation.
- She helped pioneer using frozen Elkhorn coral sperm to fertilize live coral eggs and raise lab-reared juvenile corals. Some experiments used sperm and eggs from geographically separated corals of the same species, a step toward breeding corals that survive warmer ocean temperatures.
- Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) five times, as well as by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, National Geographic, and WINGS WorldQuest.
- She is passionate about science communication and has given TED Talks (2015 and 2017) on corals and reef restoration. Her work has been covered by NPR, BBC, The Atlantic, and Popular Science.
- As of October 2019, her Google Scholar h-index was 10.

Selected publications (highlights):
- Her research includes studies on coral genetics and reproduction, larval survival, and coral-microbe interactions, contributing to understanding how to conserve and restore coral reefs.

Awards and honors:
- TED Senior Fellow
- National Geographic Explorer (2019)
- WINGS WorldQuest Women of Discovery Fellow
- 2016 WINGS WorldQuest Women of Discovery Sea Award recipient
- World Economic Forum Young Scientist

Marhaver is a leading voice in coral research and ocean conservation, combining field and lab work with public outreach to explain why corals matter and how we can help protect them.