Mai is a PhD student in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Weizmann Institute, under the supervision of Prof. Assaf Vardi. Her research focuses on the effect of marine heat waves on diatom blooms in the ocean. She has a BSc in Marine Sciences from the Ruppin Academic Center in Michmoret, Israel and obtained her MSc at the Weizmann Institute, also in Prof. Assaf Vardi’s group, where she studied cell death in algal blooms.  

In her PhD, Mai studies the mechanisms and strategies that microalgae have to cope with extreme heat periods, investigating these questions in the lab and at sea. In addition, Mae works with the Davidson Institute as a scientific writer and teaching marine science to youth through various programs.