2002 Sea Grant Fellow Christine Blackburn
Former State Fellow Now with U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
June 13, 2004–A California Sea Grant State Fellow with the California Resources Agency in 2002, Christine Blackburn is currently a policy associate with the Research, Education and Marine Operations Working Group of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.
The 16-member commission has spent nearly three years reviewing the nation’s marine programs and policies and in April sent a 400-page draft report outlining its recommendations for improving ocean governance to the nation’s governors and interested stakeholders.
The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy’s draft report, released in April 2004, urged an overhaul of the nation’s marine policies. Former California Sea Grant State Fellow Christine Blackburn, now a policy associate at the commission, wrote chapters of the report. [left]
As support staff for the commissioners, Blackburn wrote chapters of the report dealing with ocean research, science infrastructure, and oceans and human health. She is now incorporating governors’ comments into a final report to be sent to the president in the fall of 2004.
“Working at the Ocean Commission has been a once in a lifetime experience,” Blackburn said. “My Sea Grant fellowship at the California Resources Agency made it possible. My time in California was invaluable for understanding the policy implications of science and how science fits into policy-making.”
With the passage of the Oceans Act of 2000, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy was created to make recommendations for a comprehensive national ocean policy. Commissioners pictured (l-r) front row are: Professor Marc J. Hershman, Washington State; Dr. Thomas R. Kitsos, Executive Director; Mr. Ted A. Beattie, Illinois; and Dr. Paul A. Sandifer, South Carolina. Second row: Mr. Lawrence Dickerson, Texas; Mrs. Lillian Borrone, New Jersey; Ms. Ann D'Amato, California; and Mr. Paul L. Kelly, Texas. Back row: Mr. Christopher Koch, Virginia; Mr. Edward B. Rasmuson, Alaska; Dr. James M. Coleman, Louisiana; Admiral James D. Watkins, USN (Ret.), Chairman, Maryland; Mr. William D. Ruckelshaus, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Andrew A. Rosenberg, New Hampshire; Vice Admiral Paul G. Gaffney II, USN, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Robert Ballard, Connecticut; and Dr. Frank Muller-Karger, Florida. Photo Credit: U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
The commission will be disbanded soon after the final report is sent to the president. Blackburn is unsure what her next job will be, but she said she’d like a chance to help implement some of the commission’s recommendations.
[Read about Christine Blackburn’s experiences as a Sea Grant State Fellow at the California Resources Agency, excerpted from the California Sea Grant summer 2003 newsletter. (Below)]
Sea Grant Fellow Wins New Appointment
Former California Sea Grant State Fellow Christine Blackburn has won a Policy Fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. Blackburn is now working in the Office of Science and Technology at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, an arm of the National Institutes of Health.
Blackburn earned a doctorate degree in marine chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and in 2002 was awarded a California Sea Grant State Fellowship at the Ocean Program of the California Resources Agency. As a state fellow, she helped organize the “California and the World Ocean Conference 2002” and the first meeting of the board of trustees of the newly formed California Ocean Trust.
Former California Sea Grant State Fellow Christine Blackburn was a Sea Grant Trainee while a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“Until I started the Sea Grant State Fellowship, my only job experience was in the lab, doing independent research,” Blackburn said. “After completing my doctoral degree, I was interested in taking a different career path and wanted to get involved in policy work related to science. Opportunities to switch fields are limited. The Sea Grant fellowship gave me an unparalleled opportunity to experience this kind of work firsthand.”
After her AAAS Fellowship in D.C. ends, Blackburn hopes to return to marine policy and conservation.
“I’d like to do what I was doing as a state fellow,” she said. “I’m looking at options in Washington, D.C.”
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