Scroll down to view posts
By: Eleanor Pierel. Upon entering the Knauss Fellowship, I was not sure where I would fall on the optimism scale by the end. You see, as the Climate Policy Fellow, my days revolve around climate change policy and action from the local to international scale. Yet, many of the conversations, meetings and trips throughout my fellowship had a theme of optimism and motivation in the face of climate change…
As part of the Knauss Fellowship, fellows have the opportunity to engage in professional development and travel related to their placements. This summer, a group of fellows traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, for the United Nations Ocean Conference. Continue reading to learn about their unique experiences.
By: Nicholas Anderson. I work at the NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation in support of one of the agency’s missions, to ensure our nation has sustainable fisheries and recover threatened and endangered species by promoting fish passage at hydropower dams. I visited two hydropower dams in May 2021 to see how at a local level our program provides guidance to the different parties involved in hydropower and fish passage planning.
By: Michaela Margida. If you type the title of this article into a Google search, as I did nearly a year ago when I was first placed in U.S. Senator Cory Booker’s office as a Legislative Knauss Fellow, you’ll find that there are over 27 pages of results. I read the first 30 or so search results before realizing that confidence probably wasn’t something I’d get through an academic approach.
By: Shellby Johnson. When I received an unexpected invitation during my Knauss Fellowship to join an ocean exploration transit across the North Atlantic, stress definitely entered the room, but I chose to fight, and it was one of the best professional and personal experiences of my life. Learn about my experience in this interactive feature.
By: Lu Wang. To take full advantage of all this year has to offer, I adapted a mindset early on in the fellowship to try to say “yes” to every opportunity. And so when my host office asked me if I wanted to go to sea as part of my fellowship, my response could only be, “Absolutely, I do.”
By: Elle Wibisono. As an Indonesian fishery scientist, I had no previous knowledge of or experience with the inner workings of the U.S. Congress. Now, as a “leg” fellow, I’ve learned I need to be prepared to respond to virtually anything. Here is a glimpse of a calm day in the life of a legislative fellow.
By: So-Jung Youn. There’s something to be said for the strength and comfort you find in being surrounded by a community that’s passionate and dedicated to the same issues you care about. Listening to the Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2021 speakers, I was inspired by their stories, dedication and perseverance.
By: Josie Lindsey-Robbins. This fellowship year has been unlike years past, with the majority of fellows in my cohort exclusively teleworking since March 2020. For all future fellows, here are five things I think you need in order to have a successful virtual fellowship.
By: Caroline Wiernicki. Who has the monkey? It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. In the words of William Oncken Jr. and Donald L. Wass, the proverbial “monkey” is a concept key to working on a team: an individual’s responsibility or task that contributes towards the team’s broader goals.
By: Alexandra Skrivanek. NOAA’s mission of science, service and stewardship is vast in scope, spanning the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean. I can personally attest to this because, in the first 24 hours of traveling with RDML Gallaudet in HawaiÊ»i at the start of my fellowship year, we covered most of this breadth.
By Bianca Prohaska. Going into my fellowship position, I knew I would travel a lot, lead our collaborations with India, and provide support for our work with China. What I didn’t realize is how quickly I would get to start my work and get traveling! Read about my experiences in India, Ireland, Hawai’i, France, Malaysia, and more!
By: Alison Agather. In 1912, over 1,500 people lost their lives when the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank. But what does the Titanic have to do with my fellowship role in the National Weather Service’s Ocean Prediction Center?
By Madi Harris
Speed-walking down 5th Avenue in my suit while fighting early Manhattan summer humidity was not the morning I had planned for myself. Expecting the early Amtrak train from D.C. to New York to be on schedule may have been my own naivety, but I now found myself tempting a late arrival for my very first meeting at the United Nations (UN).
By Liz Berg
As a Congressional and Legislative Affairs Fellow with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), I act as a liaison between the FWS and Congress. One of the issue areas I work on is the conservation of pollinators, including the monarch butterfly. I have responded to inquiries from staff who work for Senators, House Representatives, and Congressional committees, including the Senate Energy and Natural Resources and House Natural Resources Committees. I have also prepared outreach materials, and helped coordinate a Congressional briefing – all concerning the monarch butterfly.
Annapolis. Honolulu. Oakland. Charleston. Minneapolis. St. Petersburg. Gloucester. My desk is in Silver Spring, but we also work in Saipan, Stennis, and Seattle. Working with NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management means working with regions across the nation’s states and territories and sometimes changing my surroundings, virtually, every hour.
As the air horn blew, I couldn’t help but laugh. Even NBC News caught me laughing. During a committee hearing, Representative Cunningham (D-SC) wanted to illustrate that seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic ocean would be as loud and disruptive to the endangered North Atlantic right whale as his air horn blast was to the hearing.