
Rahul Mehrotra
Project Manager
Project manager at ATMEC, Rahul is an accomplished marine biologist and educator with over a decade of SCUBA diving experience and has been a certified Conservation Diver instructor since 2014. He has co-described six new species to science and has been active in the field of marine conservation in Thailand for several years. Rahul's research interests are broad and diverse and he has supervised students from high school to graduate levels. He completed his own PhD at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
Random Fact: Rahul’s affection for muck diving is inversely proportional to that of being called ‘doctor’.

Thomas Real
Instructor
Having completed his internship and training with ATMEC, Tommy has now joined the team as a researcher and supporting instructor at the program. During his training, Tommy was certified to teach the Ecological Monitoring Program, and gained experience in a large array of reef-associated skills such as giant clam surveys and anthozoan taxonomy. Alongside his role as an instructor, he is also responsible for maintaining boat and laboratory facilities as well as conducting his own research on seaslugs and coral reef ecology.
Random Fact: Even today, it is unclear if Tommy is a bigger nerd about coffees or nudis. Some are too scared to find out.

Supatcha Japakang (Ploy)
Assistant Instructor
Ploy was the first instructor training scholarship recipient at ATMEC. She completed her internship at the end of 2021 and began a semester as a staff member in 2022. All the while, she has also pursued her own research efforts in variable stress response in restored corals. Her special skills include expertise with zoom calls and a hatred of jackfruit.

Thana Jantarakolica (Jeep)
Assistant Instructor
A fellow recipient of the 2021 ATMEC instructor training scholarship, Jeep has been (as you can see) a unique addition to the team. He joined the staff team in 2022 while continuing his exciting research on substrate colonisers and coral taxonomy. His friendliness and positive attitude is only surpassed by his unique relationship with carbonated beverages.