Knauss Fellows Begin Service

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Katie Mosher, kmosher@ncsu.edu

The application period is open now until Feb. 19, 2021 for next year’s Knauss Fellowships.

NOAA and the National Sea Grant Office have announced placements for the 2021 class of the Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. The 74 finalists include four graduate students from North Carolina: Jashira Torres Pabón, Kayelyn Simmons, Joseph Fader, and Cameron Adams.

The highly competitive fellowship is a year-long program for graduate students interested in national policy issues affecting ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources. Since 1979, over 1,400 fellows have completed the program, becoming leaders in science, policy, and public administration.

The new finalists join more than 80 from North Carolina who have served during the four-decade history of the Knauss Fellowship. North Carolina State University and Duke University each have provided the educational training ground for two finalists this year.

Jashira Torres Pabón serves with the Office of Law Enforcement for NOAA Fisheries. She earned her master’s degree in marine policy and administration at NC State. Through summer internships with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, she worked on policy and regulatory aspects of the recreational red snapper fishery for her thesis project. She also was an economics research assistant with North Carolina Sea Grant.

Kayelyn Simmons serves with NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program. Simmons is a Ph.D. candidate in marine science at NC State and holds a master’s degree in marine biology from Nova South­eastern University. Her doctoral research uses emerging soundscape tools, along with more conventional approaches, to better assess spatial patterns in reef ecosystems.

Joseph Fader serves with NOAA’s Office of International Affairs. His research as a Ph.D. candidate in Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment explores the interaction between marine mammals and the long-line fishery, and his methodology incorporates an economic analysis.

Cameron Adams, also from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke, serves with the legislative offices of Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. For his master’s project, Adams used the latest satellite data and new drone techniques to help landowners track the retreat of their shorelines and coastal habitats.

North Carolina Sea Grant is accepting applications now from North Carolina graduate students for the next class of Knauss Fellows. The deadline to apply is February 19, 2021, at 5 p.m. Eastern.

apply here for a 2022 Knauss Fellowship:
https://ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/funding-opps/fellowships/knauss/

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