For graduate students, the chance to gain professional experience and field-specific knowledge through real-world opportunities is invaluable.
Students enrolled in the IEP program who are pursuing the specialization in Ocean and Coastal Resource Management are eligible for funded Center for the Blue Economy Summer Fellowships. The process begins in early spring to identify opportunities with innovative and internationally recognized marine organizations. The center provides a list of possibilities, and students may suggest additional fellowship organizations. Each project must positively affect ocean and coastal sustainability, help the host organization fill a critical need, and better prepare our students for their future careers. Below is a list of our 2019 fellows. Their stories, along with tales from our 2020 fellows and past fellows can be found at our CBE Summer Fellows Blog.
Center for the Blue Economy 2020 Summer Fellows
Student name: Illeana Alexander
Environmental Defense Fund
San Francisco, CA, USA
June 1 – August 7, 2020
Illeana will be working with the Environmental Defense Fund as an Intern in the Ocean Program. They will be working with the Support Japan Team on the developing a way to evaluate the status of Japan’s effort to implement new fisheries policy. They will also help answer any follow up questions from Japan’s team in regards to the nearshore fisheries management paper.
Student Name: Elizabeth Francis
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
June 1 – August 21, 2020
Elizabeth will be working with the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary to analyze potential sources of blue carbon storage with a case study conducted on the Bolinas Lagoon. She will then analyze and assess the results of her findings in the Sanctuary and write international recommendations and guidelines for blue carbon storage in marine protected areas.
Student Name: Janet Kung
Environmental Defense Fund
San Francisco, CA, USA
June 1- August 7, 2020
Janet will support EDF Oceans in developing country-by-country climate change sensitivity profiles and incorporating climate change impacts into fishery management tools. She will assist the Lead Senior Scientist, Oceans with reviewing peer-reviewed literature on climate change effects on fisheries, supporting research to advance climate-ready fishery management tools, drafting papers on critical topics, and coordinating research efforts among EDF staff and other institutions. By the end of the internship, Janet hopes to have expanded her skills related to climate change and fisheries management and will have a deeper understanding of how ideas and concepts for climate-ready fishery management can be turned into action.
Student Name: Oceane Ringuette
Ocean Protection Council
Sacramento, California, U.S.A
June 1-July 31, 2020
Over the course of the 9-week summer internship, Oceane will work with the California Ocean Protection Council’s Climate Change Team to help meet the discussed climate change targets and actions explicitly identified in Goal One of the Strategic Plan to Protect California’s Coast and Ocean: COPC Strategic Plan 2020-2025. Primarily, this work will consist of the development of a white paper to inform the draft “Request for Bid” for the Beach Resiliency Plan and/or the Site-Specific Critical Infrastructure Resiliency Plan and will include project scoping for this plan.
As a member of the Climate Change Team, Oceane will work with the two staff Program Managers and the current Sea Grant Fellow. As other priorities arise, Oceane may be called upon to help the Climate Team meet other OPC needs. At the end of her internship, Oceane will provide the Ocean Protection Council with the completed white paper and draft Request for Bid for the chosen Resiliency Plan, if time allows, in addition to an associated short report consisting of project scoping, next steps, and opportunities.
Student Name: Kelsey Shoup
Seafood Solutions
Oakland, CA USA
June 1-August 17, 2020
Monterey Bay Seaweeds
Moss Landing Marine Labs, Moss Landing, CA, USA
June 1-August 17
This summer, Kelsey will be splitting her time between two organizations: Seafood Solutions and Monterey Bay Seaweeds. At Seafood Solutions Kelsey will support the Project Director to advance select projects of the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions. She will focus primarily on supporting the Alliance’s goal to advance norms and guidance on social responsibility in seafood.
At Monterey Bay Seaweeds, she will work on multiple projects surrounding the production of sustainable seaweed including; social responsibility; sustainability in production and distribution, marketing and branding, fundraising, etc.
Student Name: Cameron Steagall
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA, USA
June 1-July 31, 2020
Ocean Conservancy
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
June 1-July 31, 2020
Cameron will be splitting his time between NPS and Ocean Conservancy over the Summer, June 1-July 31, 2020. At NPS, Cameron will work on military installation and adaptation measures against sea-level rise and extreme weather events. This position is reliant on research and outreach to all levels of government regarding policy analysis and policy development inclusive of innovative solutions. This role will also involve policy analysis, development, and coordination regarding the current US position and potential involvements in Arctic policies. He will have the opportunity to brief government officials and present his findings to the Naval Energy team.
At Ocean Conservancy, Cameron will focus on marine plastics. The majority of this role is devoted to reviewing the climate consequences of the life cycle of plastics, identifying policy intervention points, researching current legislation, and ultimately drafting recommendations for national or state policy to reduce the ocean impacts of plastic production. He will prepare a report and a final presentation for the OC team and possibly legislators.
Student Name: Bailey Warren
Surfrider
San Clemente, California, USA
June 11th to August 24th, 2020
WILDCOAST
Imperial Beach, California, USA
June 11th to August 24th, 2020
Bailey will be working with two organizations this summer, remotely for now, but hopefully getting out to the beaches and wetlands of California.
Surfrider: Bailey will be conducting necessary research, data collection, and synthesis to complete the first draft of Surfriders 2020 State of the Beach Report Card. She will also be researching the ability of each coastal state to meet the 2019 grading criteria by reviewing policy documents and websites, contacting regional staff, and tracking policy changes. With this, she will be assisting with the development of policy memoranda and outreach such as comment letters and their coastal blog for communication platforms on ocean and coastal policy. Depending on allotted time, she will also support various projects as needed including compiling a one pager about managed retreat and potentially testifying before decision makers! In all, Bailey will be providing support to Surfrider’s Coastal Preservation environmental programs and campaigns for the duration of the summer.
WILDCOAST: Currently, WILDCOAST is developing a project along with SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography and San Diego County’s Blue Carbon Collaborative to conserve and restore coastal wetlands that remove significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As an intern this summer, Bailey will aid in the analysis of potential carbon mitigation opportunities that coordinate with the socioeconomic needs of the surrounding community. In doing so, she will be formalizing the Blue Carbon Coalition meetings by managing meetings, notes, and sustainability of the project. She will also be managing data by working with scientists to collect data and package information for the public, decision makers, and funders. With this, Bailey will be working to develop a literature review of blue carbon information and guidance as well as a wetland management analysis describing who is in charge of priority areas. In all, she will be reviewing documents to aid the organization in describing research and planning techniques for an equitable Blue Carbon Program.
Center for the Blue Economy 2019 Summer Fellows
Fellowship Organization: Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) German Arctic office
Fellowship Location: Potsdam, Germany
Dates of Fellowship: July 22 - September 20, 2019
Description: Kimberly will collect information about international laws and agreements applicable for the Arctic and summarize them in a fact sheet. If possible, she will use graphical tools (e.g. ArcGIS) to illustrate the factsheet. Besides this main task, she will help with the day-to-day work and organization of upcoming events of the AWI German Arctic Office, e.g., a Science to Policy Workshop in Reykjavik, Iceland, taking place in October 2019.
Student Name: Richard Castillo
Fellowship Organization: World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Fellowship Location: Washington, D.C.
Dates of Fellowship: June 3 - August 9, 2019
Description: Richard will be working with the WWF Environmental and Social Safeguards Team, helping to implement new procedures that minimize adverse environmental and social impacts of international development projects, while enhancing positive impacts. Richard will be working on various marine-related projects, such as ridge to reef watershed management in Central America, mangrove restoration in South America, fisheries management in Indonesia, and marine protected areas in Madagascar.
Fellowship Organization: World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and European Institute of Marine Studies (IUEM)
Université de Bretagne Occidentale/IUEM
Fellowship Location: Brest, France
Dates of Fellowship: May 24 - August 16, 2019
Description: The Center for the Blue Economy and the Nicholas Institute of Duke University are conducting a study of the blue economy of Kenya and Tanzania. Abi will research the ocean’s contribution to those respective national economies, with special reference to coral reefs. Working with the WWF coordinator for the project, Abi will assist in the gathering and analysis of relevant data and in the preparation of written materials for the project.
Fellowship Organization: Environmental Defense Fund
Fellowship Location: San Francisco, CA
Dates of Fellowship: June 10 – August 15, 2019
Description: Zoe will research the development of behavior change interventions in areas like the Philippines, Chile and Cuba. She will focus on topics such as sustainable aquaculture, indebtedness in unsustainable fishing behavior, and the failure of the National Stock Assessment Plan of the Philippines.
Fellowship Organization: California Coastal Commission (CCC), South Coast District Office
Fellowship Locations: Long Beach, CA
Dates of Fellowship: May 27 - August 23, 2019
Description: Hahnbin will develop a summary of past Commission actions on items within the South Coast District related to specific coastal resource topics including, climate change, wetlands, mitigation of fill of coastal waters, and parking requirements.
Fellowship Organizations: Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve and Scripp’s Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation (CCCIA)
Fellowship Locations: Imperial Beach, CA and La Jolla, CA
Dates of Fellowship: June 18 – August 25, 2019
Description: This summer, Ella will spend 66% of her time working with the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve developing sea level rise adaptation strategies for coastal watersheds. For a third of the summer, Ella will assist CCCIA with evaluation and development of feasibility for additional coastal community sites for Flood Risk – Sea Level Rise Pilots.
Fellowship Organization: Environmental Defense Fund
Fellowship Location: San Francisco, CA
Fellowship Dates: June 10 - August 23, 2019
Description: Kelly will be conducting research on multi-species fisheries management or aquaculture regulations and producing a paper explaining the findings.
Fellowship Organization: Wild Aid
Fellowship Locations: Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Fellowship Dates: July 1 - September 30, 2019
Description: This summer, Andres will be working with Wild Aid in the Galapagos to revise and promote their control and vigilance program. This program helps regulate, manage, and protect the marine protected area that surrounds the Galapagos.
Fellowship Organizations: Center for the Blue Economy and the Satoumi Thinktank
Fellowship Locations: Monterey, CA and Taipei, Taiwan
Dates of Fellowship: May 20 - August 15, 2019
Description: For the Center for the Blue Economy, Chiao will be analyzing the data from local seafood markets to identify how blockchain technology could support greater sustainable seafood traceability. For the Satoumi Thinktank, Chiao will be helping fishermen to earn fair price by developing a new type of sustainable seafood supply chain.
Fellowship Organization: Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)
Fellowship Locations: San Francisco, CA
Dates of Fellowship: June 3 - July 26, 2019
Description: Sean will be engaging stakeholders, sustainability experts, and corporation representatives to identify how to create and prioritize solutions to international maritime shipping decarbonization, ocean pollution, and ocean noise.
Fellowship Organization: Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Fellowship Location: Boston, MA
Dates of Fellowship: May 27 - August 20, 2019
Description: Fiona will support EDF’s China Oceans Program in its work to advance sustainable fisheries management in China. Specifically, she will address two conservation priorities: contributing to existing research on fishery-climate linkages, and preparing comparative case studies of how various fishing organizations around the world have engaged in sustainable fisheries management.