Sierra Benfield is a Distance Education faculty member with expertise in aquatic ecology, malacology, herpetology, and aquaculture. She obtained her BS in Environmental Biology from Wingate University and her MS in Biology From Western Carolina University. While in college, Sierra completed several studies and publications on macroinvertebrate assemblage assessments as a tool for understanding rare species distributions. In particular, she worked with hellbender salamanders as well as several federally protected fish and mussel species. After completing her graduate degree, Sierra worked as a Federally Listed Species Biologist for the state of North Carolina, conducting research, conservation, and management practices for rare nongame aquatic animals. Now, Sierra is the coordinator for North Carolina’s nongame aquaculture efforts, working to propagate and study state and federally protected aquatic species. In addition to study design and analysis techniques, she is especially passionate about field research and understanding how animals interact with one another and the surrounding ecosystem. Outside of her work as a biologist, Sierra is a firefighter and rescue technician with specialties in water and wilderness rescue.