Sofia Ibarrarán Viniegra is the Managing Director of the Center for Chemical Currencies of a Microbial Planet (C-CoMP) a NSF-funded Science and Technology Center based at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Her role is to support the center’s mission: to promote a mechanistic understanding of the chemical currencies in marine microbial ecosystems in the context of a changing planet and through increased participation in ocean sciences. Sofia coordinates the strategic development, direction, and implementation of the Center’s vision. Before joining C-CoMP she worked for the project management office of the Ocean Twilight Zone project at WHOI. Before shifting into scientific project management, she was a postdoctoral scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory after receiving her Ph.D. from McGill University’s Department of Biology in 2015.