Arvind K. Shantharam received his B.S. (2008) in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, his M.A. (2010) in Applied Ecology from Stony Brook University and his PhD (2020) from Florida State University. He currently works as a Research Associate with the Northern Gulf Institute and Data Manager for the NOAA Deep-sea Coral Research and Technology Program. He has broad interests in deep-sea spatial and invertebrate ecology, conservation, biogeography, and data science applications in the deep ocean environment.