Our Team
Madison Willert, Ph.D.
Marine Debris Specialist
![Madison Willert](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2-5-240x300.png)
Madison is the Marine Debris Specialist in the National Sea Grant Office. Her work supports the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act-funded marine debris competitions at Sea Grant.
Prior to this role, she was a joint 2023 Knauss Fellow in the National Sea Grant Office and NOAA’s Marine Debris Program, where she worked to enhance coordination and communication between the two teams concerning marine debris-related activities.
Madison is a marine ecologist, and earned her PhD in 2022 at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Biological Sciences. Her PhD research investigated the long-term effects of overfishing on marine food webs using stable isotope analysis and included a three-year predoctoral research fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
During her Smithsonian fellowship, Madison analyzed specimens from the museum’s collections to evaluate anthropogenic-mediated dietary shifts in marine mesopredators over the past two hundred years. Her graduate work took her to French Polynesia, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and Curaçao, inspiring a lifelong love for travel and marine fieldwork.
Madison holds a BA in biology from Carleton College, where she also minored in French. She is passionate about applied science and marine conservation.
Email: madison.willert@noaa.gov
Learn More About Our Work
![](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Knauss-2022_Twitter-300x169.jpg)
![](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Knauss-2022_Twitter-300x169.jpg)
Sea Grant Announces 2022 Finalists for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program
NOAA and Sea Grant are pleased to announce the finalists for the 2022 class of the Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. The 74 finalists in the
![](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/WomenofKnaussFB-300x153.png)
![](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/WomenofKnaussFB-300x153.png)
Celebrate Women’s History Month by Learning About Knauss Fellowship Alumnae
The Knauss Fellowship offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on marine and coastal policy issues in the nation’s capital. Four alumnae of the Knauss Fellowship share their experiences with science,
![](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Knauss-2021-infographics-05-updated-300x169.png)
![](https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Knauss-2021-infographics-05-updated-300x169.png)
Pathways to marine policy: Knauss Fellows build on past experiences with NOAA
In February 2021, the 42nd class of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship will begin fellowships across NOAA and other federal agencies to make their mark on national ocean