NMFS-Sea Grant Alumni
Since 1990, Sea Grant and NMFS have partnered to train students through this joint fellowship program in two specialized areas: population and ecosystem dynamics as well as marine resource economics. Population and ecosystem dynamics involve the study of fish populations and marine ecosystems to better assess fishery stock conditions and dynamics.Â
2021 Fellows
2020 Fellows
2019 Fellows
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow California Sea Grant Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Santa Cruz NOAA Mentor: Stephan Munch
Claire Rosemond Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Oregon Sea Grant Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle and Newport NOAA Mentors: Jason Cope and Aaron Berger
Emily Liljestrand Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Michigan Sea Grant Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole NOAA Mentor: Jonathan Deroba
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Washington Sea Grant Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle NOAA Mentor: James Thorson
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Virginia Sea Grant Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Miami NOAA Mentor: Matthew Lauretta
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Washington Sea Grant Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Auke Bay and Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle NOAA mentors: Dana Hanselman and Melissa Haltuch
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow Washington Sea Grant Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle NOAA mentors: Eric Ward and Christopher Harvey
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow California Sea Grant Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Santa Cruz NOAA Mentor: E.J. Dick
2015 Fellows
Name:Â Nicholas Ducharme-Barth
Sea Grant Program:Â Florida Sea Grant
School:Â University of Florida
Professor:Â Robert Ahrens
NMFS Mentor:Â Kyle Schertzer
Research:Â Using VMS Data to Understand the Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery and Targeted Populations
Award Ends:Â 2018
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Mary Donovan
Sea Grant Program:Â Hawaii Sea Grant
School:Â University of Hawaii, Manoa
Professor:Â Megan Donahue
NMFS Mentor:Â Ivor Williams
Research:Â Ecological Indicators of Coral Reefs across Multiple Spatial Scales in Hawaii
Award Ends:Â 2018
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Cecilia O’Leary
Sea Grant Program:Â New York Sea Grant
School:Â Stony Brook University
Professor:Â Janet Nye
NMFS Mentor:Â Timothy Miller
Research:Â The Mechanistic Influence of Climate on Fish Population Dynamics and Distribution and its Implications for Spatially Integrated Stock Assessment
Award Ends:Â 2018 Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Lisa Ailloud
Sea Grant Program:Â Virginia Sea Grant
School:Â Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Professor:Â John Hoenig
NMFS Mentor:Â Matthew Lauretta
Research:Â Improving Stock assessments and Management Advice for Tunas and other Highly Migratory Species
Award Ends:Â 2018
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Quang Huynh
Sea Grant Program:Â Virginia Sea Grant
School:Â Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Professor:Â John Hoenig
NMFS Mentor:Â John Walter III, Jon Brodziak
Research:Â Extensions and Applications of Mean Length Mortality Estimates
Award Ends:Â 2018
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Kelli Johnson
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: Andre Punt
NMFS Mentor: Isaac Kaplan
Research: Multi-Species Methods to Facilitate the Transition from Heuristics to Statistics in an Ecosystem Based Approach to Fisheries Management
Award Ends: 2018
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: William Goldsmith
Sea Grant Program: Virginia Sea Grant
School: Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Professor: John Graves and Andrew Scheld
NMFS Mentor: Kristy Wallmo
Research: Characterizing the Behavior and Preference of Anglers in the Recreational Fishery for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) along the US East Coast
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Marine Resource Economics
Name: Andrew Carr-Harris
Sea Grant Program: Rhode Island Sea Grant
School: University of Rhode Island
Professor: Hirotsugu Uchida
NMFS Mentor: Min-Yang Lee
Research: Econometric Models of Community Resilience and Regional Effects of Fishery Management: an Application to Northeast Fisheries
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Marine Resource Economics
2018 Fellows
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow
California Sea Grant
University of California Santa Cruz
Project: Oceanographic effects on rockfish (Sebastes spp.) reproductive success and consequences for population
https://sabrinabeyer.com/
Marine Resource Economics Fellow
California Sea Grant
University of California Berkeley
Project: Estimating the Effectiveness of the World’s Fishing-Restricted Areas
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow
Rhode Island Sea Grant
University of Rhode Island
Project: A bayesian state-space approach to improve projections of stock biomass for managing New England groundfish
https://web.uri.edu/gso/joe-langan/
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow
Maine Sea Grant
University of Maine
Project: Developing a management strategy evaluation framework for the Maine lobster fishery in a changing Gulf of Maine
http://mackenzie-mazur.squarespace.com/
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow
Virginia Sea Grant
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Project: Dealing with most species: improving methodology for forming and assessing species complexes
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow
Hawaii Sea Grant
University of Hawaii
Project: Understanding and predicting population outbreaks of the destructive coral-eating crown-of-thorns sea star, Acanthaster planci, in the U.S. Pacific Islands
Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow
MIT Sea Grant
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Project: Performance evaluation of qualitative and Bayesian network social-ecological models for use in an integrated system
http://www.smast.umassd.edu/lab_fay/
2014 Fellows
Name: Christine Stawitz
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washingtonk
Professor: Tim Essington
NMFS Mentor: Melissa Haltuch
Research: Evaluating the Importance of Growth Variation in Marine Fish Population Dynamics and Stock Assessment
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
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Name: Lauren Yamane
Sea Grant Program: California Sea Grant
School: University of California, Davis
Professor: Lou Botsford
NMFS Mentor: Steve Lindley
Research: Quantifying the Roles of Environmental Variability and the Portfolio Effect in the Population Dynamics of the Sacramento River Fall Chinook Salmon Stock
Award Ends: 2016
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
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Name: Allison Dedrick
Sea Grant Program: California Sea Grant
School: University of California, Davis
Professor: Lou Botsford
NMFS Mentor: Mandy Karnauskas
Research: Quantifying the Interactive Effects of Ocean Acidification, Temperature Change, and Fishing Behavior on Population Dynamics and Management Decisions
Award Ends: 2016
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Lisa McManus
Sea Grant Program: New Jersey Sea Grant
School: Princeton University
Professor: Simon Levin
NMFS Mentor: Rusty Brainard
Research: Assessing the Impacts of Connectivity on Coral Reef Metacommunity Dynamics in the Coral Triangle
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Matthew Nuttall
Sea Grant Program: Florida Sea Grant
School: University of Miami
Professor: Elizabeth Babcock
NMFS Mentor: John Walter III Research: Environmental and Ecological Influences on the Dynamics of Gulf Menhaden (Brevoortia patronus)
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Mark Stratton
Sea Grant Program: Virginia Sea Grant
School: Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Professor: Rob LaTour
NMFS Mentor: Rick Hart Research: Ecosystem Drivers of US South Atlantic Coastal Fish Stock Assessment
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
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Name: Katherine Kaplan
Sea Grant Program: New York Sea Grant
School: Cornell University
Professor: Patrick Sullivan
NMFS Mentor: Dvora Hart
Research: Evaluating Atlantic Sea Scallop Incidental Mortality and Habitat Effects from Bottom Fishing using the Habitat Mapping Camera System
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Laura Urbisci
Sea Grant Program: California Sea Grant
School: University of California, Santa Barbara
Professor: Hunter Lenihan
NMFS Mentor: Kevin Piner
Research: Developing a New Ecosystem-Based Management Approach: Using Ecosystem Models to Calculate a Better Estimate of Population Scale for Single-Species Models
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Peter Kuriyama
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: Trevor Branch
NMFS Mentor: Alan Hicks, John Harms
Research: Integrating Hook and Line Survey Data and Ecological Observations to Improve Stock Assessments of Key Rockfish Species in Untrawable Habitats
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Benjamin Marcek
Sea Grant Program: Virginia Sea Grant
School: Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Professor: Mary Fabrizio
NMFS Mentor: Richard Brill, Joseph (Kevin) Craig
Research: Individual-Based, Dynamic-Landscape Models of Marine Fishes Incorporating Ecophysiological Constraints
Award Ends: 2017
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Jeffrey Schrader
Sea Grant Program: California Sea Grant
School: University of California, San Diego
Professor: Joshua Graff Zivin
NMFS Mentor: Dale Squires
Research: Forecasts and Adaptations
Award Ends: 2016
Fellowship: Marine Resource Economics
Name: Jennifer Meredith
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: Chris Anderson
NMFS Mentor: Amber Himes-Cornell
Research: Modeling the Migration Decisions of Fish Harvesters in Rural Alaska
Award Ends: 2016
Fellowship: Marine Resource Economics
2016/2017 Fellows
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: Trevor Branch and Andre Punt
NMFS Mentor: Anne Hollowed
Research:  Lowering the risk of overfishing while increasing profits for California’s most valuable fishery, California market squid
Award Ends: 2020
Sea Grant Program: Maryland Sea Grant
School: University of Maryland
Professor: Thomas Miller
NMFS Mentor: Kiersten Curti
Research: Impacts of misspecification of spatial structure of assessment and stock on reliability of reference points
Award Ends: 2020
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Adam Hayes
Sea Grant Program: Â Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: David Layton
NMFS Mentor: Alan Haynie
Research:  Network analysis of a quota share market                                   Â
Award Ends: 2019
Fellowship: Marine Resource Economics
Name: Natalie Lowell
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: Lorenz Hauser
NMFS Mentor: Eric Ward and Robin Waples
Research:  Genetic risk assessment of native shellfish aquaculture                        Â
Award Ends: 2020
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Elizabeth Ng
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: Timothy Essington
NMFS Mentor: Jonathan Deroba
Research: Does predation information improve stock assessment? Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Award Ends: 2020
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Cassidy Peterson
Sea Grant Program: Virginia Sea Grant
School: Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Professor: Rob Latour
NMFS Mentor: Enric Cortes
Research: Management Strategy Evaluation of Highly Migratory Coastal Sharks Â
Award Ends: 2020
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Megan Winton
Sea Grant Program: MIT Sea Grant
School: University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Professor: Gavin Fay
NMFS Mentor: Benjamin Galuardi
Research: Integrating telemetry data to improve abundance estimates and management advice for a highly migratory marine predator
Award Ends: 2020
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Cassie Finer
Sea Grant Program:Â Oregon Sea Grant
School:Â Oregon State University
Professor:Â David Lewis
NMFS Mentor:Â Cameron Speir
Research:Â Dike removal and salt marsh restoration for fish habitat: Estimating the effects on coastal land markets
Award Ends:Â 2018
Fellowship:Â Marine Resource Economics
Name: Charles Waters
Sea Grant Program: Washington Sea Grant
School: University of Washington
Professor: Naish
NMFS Mentor: Jeff Hard Research: Modeling the effects of inbreeding in salmon hatcheries on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of supplemented wild populations
Award Ends: 2018
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Dan Ovando
Sea Grant Program:Â California Sea Grant
School:Â University of California, Santa Barbara
Professor:Â Costello &Â Gaines
NMFS Mentor:Â Jason Cope
Research:Â A Bayesian framework for utilizing fishery independent Marine Protected Area monitoring data in stock assessments
Award Ends:Â 2018
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Erin Bohaboy
Sea Grant Program:Â Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
School:Â University of South Alabama
Professor: William Patterson
NMFS Mentor:Â Shannon Cass-Calay
Research:Â Modeling the Effects of Release Mortality Mitigation in the Gulf of Mexico Recreational Reef Fishery: Red Snapper
Award Ends:Â 2019
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Mikaela Provost
Sea Grant Program:Â California Sea Grant
School:Â University of California, Davis
Professor:Â Louis Botsford
NMFS Mentor:Â Michael O’Farrell
Research:Â Sensitivities of West Coast fish stocks to environmental variability, and their use in management
Award Ends:Â 2019
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Robert Dunn
Sea Grant Program:Â California Sea Grant
School:Â San Diego State University/University of California, Davis
Professor:Â Hovel/Baskett
NMFS Mentor:Â Steve Munch
Research:Â Analysis of size-structured predation and multi-trophic level harvest using stage-structured and integral projection models
Award Ends:Â 2019
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Zack Oyafuso
Sea Grant Program:Â Hawaii Sea Grant
School:Â University of Hawaii
Professor: Erik Franklin
NMFS Mentor:Â Jon Brodziak
Research:Â Transitioning stock assessments of commercially important Hawaiian demersal fish species through age-structured assessments
Award Ends:Â 2019
Fellowship:Â Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name:Â Brandon Chasco
Sea Grant Program:Â Oregon Sea Grant
School: Oregon State University
Professor: Selina Heppell
NMFS Mentor: James Thorson
Research: Integrated spatial, temporal mixed-effects models: leveraging stock assessment techniques for threatened and protected species.
Award Ends: 2019
Fellowship: Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Name: Anna Birkenbach
Sea Grant Program:Â North Carolina Sea Grant
School: Duke University
Professor: Martin Smith
NMFS Mentor: Min-Yang Lee
Research: Structural modeling of transitions to catch shares                             Â
Award Ends: 2018
Fellowship: Marine Resource Economics
2013 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
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2012 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
2011 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
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2010 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
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2009 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
Melissa Hedges (LA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Mark Henderson (VA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Patrick Kilduff (CA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Jocelyn Lin (WA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Patrick Lynch (VA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Skyler Sagarese (NY) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
James Thorson (WA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Ben Gilbert (CA) – Marine Resource Economics
Chris Keneddy (FL) – Marine Resource Economics
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2008 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
Dovi Kacev (CA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Brandon Puckett (NC) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Kevin See (WA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Taylor Chapple (CA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Steven Saul (FL) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Teresa Stafford (TX) – Marine Resource Economics
Stephen Kasperski (MD) – Marine Resource Economics
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2007 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
Kiersten Curti (RI) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Carey McGilliard (WA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Ming-Yang Lee (IL-IN) – Marine Resource Economics
Elizabeth Smith (RI) – Marine Resource Economics
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2006 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellows
Amanda Bradford (WA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Robert Leaf (VA) – Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
Cameron Speir (IL-IN) – Marine Resource Economics
Matthew Freeman (RI) – Marine Resource Economics