Who We Are
Karla Johanning, Ph.D.

Dr. Karla M. Johanning a native of Costa Rica as well, has worked in several universities of the US as a research scientist. Karla earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Costa Rica.She then moved to Rhode Island and received a M.S. in Fisheries and Aquaculture and a Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Rhode Island.

Karla moved to New Orleans, LA where she did postdoctoral work at LSU and Tulane Universities. She worked as a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane University and was the leader and co-author of grant proposal funded by an international foundation. She was the leading investigator in this two-year study of how chemicals affect the endocrine systems of marine organisms in coastal Costa Rica. Scientists from several U.S. universities and the University of Costa Rica conducted the research, coordinated and lead by Karla. She has led ecotourism tours throughout Costa Rica, as well as being a volunteer naturalist guide at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans for several years.  Her diverse interests also include music, probably one of the biggest reasons why she moved to New Orleans. She has produced piano concerts by Costa Rican-born pianist and composer Manuel Obregón at Loyola University and the University of New Orleans (UNO). 

Karla was also a committee member of the Diversity Resource Center at UNO organizing classical music concerts for fundraising purposes for the center. She is also a founder of “Piggy Banks for Education” which provides students from a public school in Costa Rica with basic needs (eye glasses, books, visit to the dentist and uniforms). Her sister in law Luisa teaches in this school and keeps this small and yet exciting project. Karla and her husband Michael moved in October 2005 from New Orleans to Austin, Texas after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Austin is where they now call home!