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 current fellows. Their stories, along with tales from past fellows, can be found at our CBE Summer Fellows Blog.
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.