Fernanda Urrutia is a highly motivated marine ecologist and environmentalist with a strong interest in marine mammal conservation issues. Currently, Fernanda is a Marine Biology PhD candidate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, where she focuses her research on the molecular ecology of fin whales in the North Pacific. Fernanda is also the founder, leader, and primary researcher of PROCETUS, a research program dedicated to the study of cetaceans in an isolated area of the Sea of Cortes. She was born and raised in Puebla, Mexico, where she received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Engineering. She later earned her graduate degree in Marine Ecology at CICESE in Ensenada, Mexico, where she worked with artisanal fisheries and studied incidental mortality rates for the vaquita, the most endangered marine mammal in the world. Outside of work, Fernanda enjoys taking people to the hidden gems of the Baja peninsula, where she can often be found at the bow of the boat leading the way to marine wildlife.