We are pleased to introduce Tamsen "Tamie" DeWitt, the newest member of the REEF Board of Trustees. Tamie has been a REEF member since 2018 and joined the Board of Trustees in late 2024. She has always been inspired by the ocean, which may be because her parents are both from Rhode Island, the ocean state. Tamie was raised as an army brat and was fortunate to go to junior high and high school in the Canal Zone in Panama, Central America. After moving back to the states and getting her masters degree in International Education, she taught ESOL for adults in Maryland. In 1986, she went to Korea where she taught English for three years. She started working at the Invertebrate Exhibit at the Smithsonian National Zoo in 1992. Her job at the Zoo was the opportunity of a lifetime. As Assistant Curator, she was able to care for and learn so many different animals, while educating the public on lesser-exhibited animals including Giant Pacific Octopus, Nautilus, cuttlefish, mantis shrimp, spiders and butterflies! She maintains reef tanks at home and is involved with MonarchWatch.org. In 1994, when Tamie became a Smithsonian Scientific Diver, a whole new world opened up for her. Through her local aquarium club, Washington Area Marine Association, Tamie and her husband Bob learned about REEF and its amazing community of enthusiastic citizen scientists. Bob and Tamie enjoy diving all over the world and discovering the diversity in the different areas that they travel. Please join us in welcoming Tamie to the REEF Board of Trustees! You can view bios of the full REEF Board of Trustees here.