{"id":11031,"date":"2019-06-08T12:39:25","date_gmt":"2019-06-08T16:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=11031"},"modified":"2025-08-27T15:57:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T19:57:39","slug":"rising-stars-new-fellows-fuel-scientific-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/rising-stars-new-fellows-fuel-scientific-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"People and Places: Rising Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

North Carolina Sea Grant helps to develop a cadre of educated, innovative and technologically advanced professionals through a variety of fellowships for talented graduate students. These rising movers and shakers will advance the field for years to come.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY LEE CANNON, MARIS INCREMONA, SUMMER WALLS, KATELYN VAUSE AND DAVE SHAW<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clams May Facilitate Seagrass Recovery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Sarah Donaher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Donaher<\/strong> will study the resilience and restoration of seagrass beds as the recipient of the 2019 North Carolina Coastal Research Fellowship. North Carolina Sea Grant and the N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve Program sponsor the fellowship, which supports work in the state\u2019s reserve system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnderstanding how ecosystems such as seagrasses respond to disturbance is a fundamental ecological question,\u201d says Brandon Puckett, research coordinator at the Coastal Reserve. \u201cBy testing the potential for clams to facilitate the recovery of seagrasses from disturbance, Sarah\u2019s research also will provide insights that can be applied in restoration and resource management contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donaher, a marine sciences doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will focus in part on the erosional effect on seagrass beds from high wave energy caused by storms and boat wakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drone Data Aids \u201cGhost Forests\u201d Research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Melinda Martinez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 2019 North Carolina Sea Grant \u2013 North Carolina Space Grant Graduate Research Fellows will identify early warning signs of \u201cghost forests\u201d using drones and remote sensing technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melinda Martinez<\/strong>, a doctoral student in forestry and remote sensing in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at North Carolina State University, and Emily Ury<\/strong>, a doctoral student in ecology from Duke University, will determine when saltwater has begun killing healthy wetlands, a process that leaves behind ghostly stands of dead trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Emily Ury<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is interesting this year that both fellows proposed to use drones in their research,\u201d says Susan White, executive director of North Carolina Sea Grant and North Carolina Space Grant. \u201cWe hope their work will encourage others to utilize cutting-edge technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez will use remote-sensing technologies to study coastal forested wetlands. She will measure the volume of greenhouse gases released by standing dead trees and compare that to amounts released by soils in forested wetlands near the coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ury will examine how marine salts present due to sea level rise affect plants that are accustomed to growing in freshwater, and if signs of stress from salt exposure can be distinguished from other stressors, such as flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shoreline Erosion Relates to Nurseries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Erin Voigt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Erin Voigt<\/strong>, a doctoral student at North Carolina State University, is the recipient of the 2019 joint fellowship from North Carolina Sea Grant and the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership (APNEP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voigt will study how native and invasive species distribution and wave exposure affect shoreline erosion and the availability of nursery habitats. She anticipates this work will identify factors that affect marsh shoreline erosion and growth along the Currituck, Albemarle and Pamlico sound system. The study also will use a drone to map marsh habitat change over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe resulting insights \u2014 into the interacting effects of invasive marsh grasses and wave energy on shoreline erosion and fish habitat at landscape scale \u2014 will help to inform APNEP\u2019s approach to invasive species management and fish habitat conservation,\u201d says Dean Carpenter, APNEP program scientist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sea Grant\/WRRI Fellows Focus on Diversity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Six graduate students across North Carolina are beginning new coastal and water resource research projects. North Carolina Sea Grant and the Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North Carolina<\/a> system are funding four fellows. Research consortia facilitated by WRRI \u2014 the Urban Water Consortium and the Stormwater Consortium \u2014 are supporting the other two projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are pleased to have our funding partners join us again this year in support of research fellowships that focus on diverse communities,\u201d says John Fear, deputy director for the state\u2019s Sea Grant and WRRI programs. \u201cWe have a broad range of projects that consider topics of immediate and long-term needs for a variety of North Carolina communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Carolina Sea Grant and WRRI are supporting these four fellows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Olivia Vila<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n