Our Team
Madison Willert, Ph.D.
Marine Debris Specialist
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
Sea Grant Announces 2021 Finalists for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program
The 74 finalists in the 2021 class represent 27 of the 34 Sea Grant programs. This year’s class includes early career professionals who have diverse backgrounds and experiences. Since 1979,
From Knauss Fellowship to center stage: One Knauss Alum’s unique career move from the fellowship to a successful music career
Knauss Fellowship alumni use the experiences they gain during the fellowship to pursue a variety of careers, from NOAA Chief of Staff to professors or U.S. Senate committee staff.
Knauss Fellowship alum Catalina Martinez receives prestigious award for her work in diversity, equity and inclusion
Catalina Martinez, a 2002 Knauss Fellow through Rhode Island Sea Grant, was one of six NOAA experts recognized at the 2019 annual<a href="https://intouch.ccgmag.com/page/woc_conference2" style="font-size: