2010 Knauss Fellowships Announced

Contact:

Shauna Oh
Assistant Director
California Sea Grant College Program
La Jolla, CA
E.: shaunaoh@ucsd.edu
T.: (858) 822-2708

Relevant Links:

Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship 2011

Tools:

Revised:

January 15, 2010

January 15, 2010

Contact: Christina S. Johnson, csjohnson@ucsd.edu, 858-822-5334

Four California Sea Grant nominees will soon head to the nation’s capital to begin prestigious John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowships.

The four fellowship recipients are:

Karen Carlson

Karen Carlson, who earned a master’s degree in public policy from California State University, Monterey Bay in 2009 and is a former executive director of the non-profit Friends of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

Sherry Lippiatt, a doctoral student in ocean sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, whose thesis examines the distribution of reactive iron in the Columbia River plume and Gulf of Alaska.

Katie Nichols, who holds a master’s in marine conservation ecology from San Diego State University and is a former California Sea Grant trainee and worked with SDSU biologist Kevin Hovel on understanding sea urchin and spiny lobster ecology in a San Diego kelp forest.

Kyle Vanderlugt

Kyle Vanderlugt, a doctoral student in soil, water and environmental science at the University of Arizona (UA), who is developing techniques for using aquaculture effluent as crop fertilizer. He also holds a master’s in business administration from UA.

The four are among 46 outstanding students and recent graduates from across the nation, who have won year-long paid assignments in executive and legislative branches of the federal government. Most fellowships begin in February.

The National Sea Grant office sponsors the program, now in its 32nd year and named in honor of the renowned oceanographer, John A. Knauss. The Knauss Fellowship program was established in the spirit of continuing his excellence in marine science and policy.

By chance, all four of California Sea Grant’s winning candidates this year have been placed in executive offices at the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sherry Lippiatt

Carlson will intern at the NOAA Office of Program Planning and Integration, established in 2002 to coordinate key components of NOAA. Besides helping to implement its strategic plan, she hopes to participate in efforts to explore new fisheries management approaches, especially the concept of “catch share” allocations for coastal pelagic species such as the Pacific sardine.

The Marine Debris Program at NOAA’s National Ocean Service will be hosting fellow recipient Lippiatt. “I’ll be working on developing a monitoring program to better understand where debris originates and what type is found on our coasts,” she says. “I will also be investigating the impact of microplastics on marine life via ingestion and contaminant transfer. I’m really looking forward to getting involved and learning more about the issue and solutions. ”

Katie Nichols

Fellow recipient Nichols will be interning at the Office to the Assistant of NOAA Fisheries, which oversees federal fisheries policy, among other things. “I became interested in the Knauss program because of the policy implications of my master’s research,” says Nichols, referring to her research on spiny lobsters and red sea urchins, both commercial fisheries in California. “I think learning more about policy will help me in any avenue of my career in marine science.”

Vanderlugt, who started his fellowship early, is working for the Assistant to the Deputy of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. “My job is to ease his work orders,” he explains. “My interest in the position was its access to high-level insight and the ability to contact senior executives across all line offices. I want to get out there and see where it is at.”

For more information on the Knauss Fellowship program, visit: http://www.seagrant.noaa.gov/knauss/.

# # #

NOAA’s California Sea Grant College Program (www.csgc.ucsd.edu) is a statewide, multi-university program of marine research, extension services, and education activities administered by the University of California. It is the largest of 32 Sea Grant programs and is headquartered at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The National Sea Grant College Program is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce.