2002 Knauss Fellow Now Senior Legislative Assistant
2002 Knauss Fellow Johanna Polsenberg
Credit: Warren Nott
January 2007 – Former 2002 Knauss Fellow Johanna Polsenberg is now a senior legislative assistant to Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM).
Before joining his team in 2004, Polsenberg had been assistant director at the National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research at the University of Miami in Key Biscayne, Fla.
Two years prior, in 2002, she was a Knauss Fellow with Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), working on marine-related issues, including the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and commercial fisheries. She was also part of a U.S. congressional delegation that attended the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa.
Polsenberg said she decided to return to Washington, D.C., to work for Rep. Udall because she felt the move would help her make a greater contribution to environmental issues. “We have a lot of scientific knowledge,” she said. “But we don't always use what we know.” Policy is about trying to implement that knowledge. This is an extremely satisfying process, she said.
As a senior legislative assistant, Polsenberg’s duties include researching, writing and promoting environmental legislation sponsored by Rep. Udall.
One of the bills that she recently wrote on Udall's behalf – it passed into law in December 2006 – protects 100,000 acres of New Mexico wilderness from mining. An oil company had wanted to lease the federal land and drill it, she said. Now it is forever protected from all forms of mining; people can continue to recreate on the land as they always have.
“It is incredible to be able to affect policy at this level,” she said.
Like many Knauss Fellows, Polsenberg was classically trained in the sciences. She holds a doctorate in biology from Stanford University for her studies of mangrove ecology.
She is currently earning an MBA. “A better understanding of business and economics will further my goals of crafting ‘win-win’ solutions to major environmental problems,” she said.
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