Elena Kobrinski is a Doctoral Student in Coastal and Marine System Science at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, Texas. The focus of her dissertation is on decommissioning strategies in the Gulf of Mexico and California, with case studies from the North Sea, Australia and Japan.

Prior to her time in Texas, Elena was in the Caribbean for three years studying community resilience and engagement, and how this may relate to coral reef resilience. She holds a Master’s Degree in Marine and Environmental Science from the University of the Virgin Islands. Completely devoted to the ocean, she is an avid SCUBA diver, and recently became involved in film. Her focus is on the ability of film to translate information between marine science and the public. She is a member of the film competition jury for BLUE 2014, assisted at the 2012 Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit in Monterey California, and planned the 2013 Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute CINEFISH Film Festival in Texas. She recently began the Reef Renaissance Film Festival (2013) with co-founders Paul Cater Deaton and Monica Gephart, being held annually in the U.S. Virgin Islands.