Four New West Coast Ocean Health Sea Grant Fellows Announced
Researcher:
Shauna Oh
Assistant Director
California Sea Grant College Program
La Jolla, CA
E.: shaunaoh@ucsd.edu
T.: (858) 822-2708
Relevant Links:
- West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health
- West Coast Regional Marine Research and Information Needs Report
- Sustainable Communities ACT
- West Coast Sea Grant Fellowship Program
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Revised:
April 7, 2011
Allison Haupt, a new West Coast Sea Grant Fellow.
April 7, 2011
Contact: Christina S. Johnson, csjohnson@ucsd.edu, 858-822-5334
Stanford University's Alison Haupt is one of four outstanding early career marine scientists to receive a new fellowship created by the West Coast Sea Grant programs to help improve the region's ocean health.
"I am very excited to get started," said Haupt who earned her doctorate in marine biology from Stanford University in March and has also just completed a collaborative fisheries field project in Baja California, Mexico.
As a West Coast Sea Grant Fellow, Haupt in mid-April begins a two-year assignment at the California Natural Resources Agency in Sacramento, applying her skills in marine biology and stakeholder engagement to improve coastal resource management, in line with the broad goals of the West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health.
Indeed each of the four West Coast Sea Grant Fellows has been placed in host agencies where their activities will directly support the governors' ocean health action plan.
This plan identified seven key priorities facing the West Coast: clean coastal waters and beaches; healthy ocean and coastal habitats; effective ecosystem-based management; reduced impacts of offshore development; increased ocean awareness and literacy among the region's citizens; expanded ocean and coastal scientific information, research and monitoring; and sustainable economic development of coastal communities.
“We’re very excited to have this opportunity to benefit from the academic expertise, experience and enthusiasm of our four new fellows,” said Brian Baird, California’s Assistant Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy. “In these difficult economic times, working collaboratively to advance important ocean and coastal initiatives on the West Coast is critically important.”
The three other fellows, their placements and projects are:
Todd Hallenback
Todd Hallenbeck, placed in the Oregon Governor's Office, is studying elements of coastal and marine spatial planning in support of the governors' agreement and its regional planning body.
Alan Lovewell
Alan Lovewell, placed in NOAA's Seattle office, is integrating NOAA and the governors' Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEAs) initiatives. IEAs describe the ecosystem, assess its current condition, forecast the future ecological health using current management strategies and evaluate alternate strategies and their potential impacts.
Suzanna Stoike
Suzanna Stoike, in the Washington Department of Ecology, will further sustainable coastal community development by assisting the Sustainable Communities Action Coordination Team (ACT) with carrying out its soon-to-be released implementation plan.
The West Coast Sea Grant Fellowship was created to support implementation of common elements of the 2008 West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health Action Plan and the 2009 Sea Grant West Coast Regional Research and Information Needs Report, which identified eight key regional research areas and three "cross-cutting" themes in line with the governors' action plan.
To learn more about the West Coast Sea Grant Fellowship, visit: http://www.csgc.ucsd.edu/EDUCATION/WCGA/WCGAFellow.html
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