Oregon Sea Grant funds two OSU students, PSU alumna

OSU grad student Emily Mazur will be working with NOAA.

OSU grad student Emily Mazur will be working with NOAA on conveying important info to scientists. (Photo by George Mazur)

September 13, 2018

By Rick Cooper

Oregon Sea Grant has awarded $54,000 to two graduate students at Oregon State University and a Portland State University alumna to assist them with their research and environmental management work.

OSU graduate students Emily Mazur and Erin Peck are recipients of the 2018-19 Robert E. Malouf Marine Studies Scholarships, and PSU graduate Bryn Hudson has been awarded a 2018-19 Natural Resource Policy Fellowship.

Mazur completed a bachelor’s degree in marine science and biology at the University of Miami, where she also minored in marine policy. She is working toward a master’s degree in marine resource management at OSU. She will be working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to better understand how agencies can convey important weather, ocean and climate information to Oregon scientists.

OSU doctoral candidate is studying environmental and human factors affecting Oregon's salt marshes.

OSU doctoral candidate Erin Peck is studying environmental and human factors affecting Oregon’s salt marshes. (Photo by Kristina Montville)

Peck earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and her master’s from OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, where she is working toward a doctorate in ocean ecology and biochemistry. Her research aims to identify the main factors affecting sediment accumulation and carbon burial in Oregon’s salt marshes and to determine the marshes’ resilience to sea-level rise and human-caused land-use changes.

Hudson holds a bachelor’s degree in aquatic biology with a minor in educational studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master’s degree in environmental science and management from Portland State University. She will work with the Governor’s Natural Resource Office, helping to implement and advance the governor’s natural resource and environmental agenda. In addition, she will assist state departments in managing issues and advancing their budget requests and legislative proposals. The position also involves providing critical support on coastal issues such as water quality, ocean acidification and hypoxia, sea-level rise, marine renewable energy, planning for rocky shores, invasive species and marine fisheries.

PSU grad Bryn Hudson will work with the Governor's Natural Resource Office on a variety of tasks and issues.

PSU grad Bryn Hudson will work with the Governor’s Natural Resource Office on a variety of tasks and issues.

The Malouf Scholarship is awarded to graduate students who combine societally relevant research with education or public engagement. The students may be enrolled at any college or university in Oregon while working toward a degree in any field compatible with Oregon Sea Grant’s strategic plan. The yearlong scholarship is named for Robert E. Malouf, who was the director of Oregon Sea Grant from 1991 until his retirement in 2008. The 2018-19 award is $10,800. The scholarship begins October 1, 2018, and ends September 30, 2019.

The Natural Resource Policy Fellowship, also a year in length, is intended to give a graduate student first-hand, full-time experience in natural resource policy at the state level. In so doing, the student contributes to policies that benefit natural-resource managers, coastal community members, and user groups such as fishermen. The fellowship pays $32,400 for the year, which also begins October 1, 2018, and ends September 30, 2019.

The fellowship and scholarships are all funded and administered by Oregon Sea Grant.

Now available: New issue of Oregon Sea Grant’s newsletter

June 21, 2018

The spring/summer 2018 issue of Confluence, a newsletter about Oregon Sea Grant’s research, outreach and educational programs, is now available for download. Inside this eight-page issue, you’ll find the following stories:

Cover of the spring/summer 2018 issue of Oregon Sea Grant's newsletter, Confluence

The spring/summer 2018 issue of Oregon Sea Grant’s newsletter, Confluence, is now available for free download.

Want to receive the next issue of Confluence in your email? Click here.

Video: Summer internships prepare undergrads for marine science careers

This new video shows how Oregon Sea Grant’s Summer Scholars program helps prepare high-caliber junior and senior undergraduates from around the U.S. for careers in the marine sciences or the management of coastal resources. The program places students with Oregon-based federal and state agencies and nongovernmental organizations for paid, 10-week internships.

Students are assigned to a specific project under a mentor. They may assist their mentors with field work, lab work, analysis, research, policy development or public engagement efforts.

The video, produced by Oregon Sea Grant (OSG), also highlights some of this summer’s activities and includes interviews with students and mentors.

Ten students from seven different states participated in this year’s program, interning with agencies such as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), the USDA, the OSU Extension Tourism Program, the EPA and the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. Students worked on topics ranging from monitoring recovering sea star populations to spreading awareness about marine reserves to testing unmanned aircraft systems’ viability in shellfish surveys.

Students also participated in a professional-development workshop on science communication and outreach and engagement. The workshop was followed by a hiking and camping trip, allowing students both to explore more of Oregon’s scenic beauty and spend some quality time with their cohort.

The program culminated with a symposium that was open to the public. Friends, family, mentors and coworkers came to watch the scholars present on their summer’s work.

“The skills I’ve gained this summer as a scholar seem a little difficult to quantify because it feels like there’s a lot,” student Catie Michel said in the video. “But I’ve especially appreciated learning about successful collaboration with people and effective communication, especially in terms of science and research.”

In addition to aligning with OSG’s vision, mission and values, the goals of the Summer Scholars program are to

  • prepare students for graduate school and/or careers in marine science, policy, management, and outreach through funding support and hands-on experience;
  • support host organization program initiatives and facilitate scholars’ understanding of their work’s importance in accomplishing the broader host organization goals; and
  • promote integration of diverse perspectives into problem solving for coastal Oregon to provide richer and more inclusive solutions.

The program also strives to encourage student success during and after their internships through cultivating an inclusive environment, creating a broad professional network in the marine field, offering professional development opportunities with an emphasis on science communication, and fostering a supportive mentor/mentee relationship.

“What I enjoy about mentoring a Sea Grant scholar is watching the students enjoy the learning experience,” Tommy Swearingen, a researcher with the ODFW, said in the video. “As an agency scientist, it is a huge benefit to our program to have the contribution that students make.”

Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholars Program was filmed and edited by Haley Epperly.

More information about the Summer Scholars program can be found here.

Grant to fund field trips to marine science center in Newport

Oregon Sea Grant will receive $3,000 on Feb. 3 from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund to support field trips to Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC).

“This grant will allow up to 30 classrooms from schools with low-income populations in the tribal service area to visit the center and learn about coastal habitats and marine research,” said Kathryn Hawes, the coordinator of Oregon Sea Grant’s marine education program.

The program offers classes and camps for K-12 youths. The activities take place at HMSC, where Oregon Sea Grant’s Visitor Center is located, and in the nearby Yaquina Bay estuary. This program serves approximately 9,000 students each year, Hawes said.

Oregon Sea Grant will allocate the field trip scholarships on a first-come, first-served basis to Title 1 schools in the Siletz tribal service area. For more information and to apply, visit http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor-center/webform/2017-scholarship-application.

The grant will be awarded Feb. 3 at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City during a ceremony that begins at 6 p.m.

Photo (above right): Students learn how to dissect a shark in a 2016 camp offered by Oregon Sea Grant’s marine education program, which is based at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. Oregon Sea Grant has received a grant from the Siletz Tribe that will allow low-income students to participate in similar educational activities at the center. Photo by Hana Laughton.

Fellowship, scholarship deadlines near

Students in marine science and policy-related fields: Application deadlines are coming up in January for a number of graduate and undergraduate fellowships and scholarships offered by NOAA and administered by state Sea Grant programs. You need not be an Oregon resident to apply, but the opportunities are open only to US citizens. For complete application information, visit our Website.

Oregon Sea Grant-sponsored scholars have gone on to great jobs in ocean and coastal research, policy-making and administration, and in the non-profit sector. Check out our map to see where some of them are today.

Malouf Scholarship: Applicants sought

Oregon Sea Grant is soliciting applications for the 2015-2016 Robert E. Malouf Marine Studies Scholarship, awarded to support  graduate students who combine societally relevant research with education or public engagement.

The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. Friday, July 20. 2015.

Applicants must be graduate students at any college or university in Oregon, working toward a degree in a field compatible with Oregon Sea Grant’s mandate and areas of interest. Disciplines may include, but are not limited to biological, geological, physical and chemical sciences; marine resource management and policy; marine resource economics; social sciences; engineering; geology; education or public health.

The scholarship’s purpose is to provide a significant contribution to students seeking advanced degrees and to contribute to building the nation’s future capacity in the marine sciences. Oregon Sea Grant plans to award two Malouf Scholarships in 2015: one to a Master’s student and one to a Ph.D. student. If funding permits, more than two scholarships may be granted.

The scholarship is named for Dr. Robert E. Malouf, Oregon Sea Grant director from 1991-2008.

For full details and to apply, visit the Oregon Sea Grant Website.

Research/Scholars Coordinator position open

Application deadline June 25, 2015. Visit OSU Jobs for details and to apply

Oregon Sea Grant is seeking to fill a full-time, 12-month, fixed term professional faculty position to support development and execution of Oregon Sea Grant’s competitive research process, manage our program development grants, coordinate the student scholars program, and prepare various proposal and project budgets, reports and other documents required by the National Sea Grant office and other funders.  

At minimum, candidates should have a Master’s degree in marine or environmental sciences, resource management, public policy, public administration, resource economics or a related field that gives the candidate a firm basis in the physical and social sciences, or with policy/ administration. In addition, we require two years of experience with responsibility for program or project management, monitoring and coordination.

For details, and to apply, visit OSU Jobs.

Confluence: Oregon communities respond to climate change

Confluence cover

Cover by artist Earl Newman

Climate change: Some people feel overwhelmed by it, others argue about it. Oregon Sea Grant researchers, Extension specialists and communicators, meanwhile are working to better understand what a changing climate is already doing to the ocean and coast – and helping coastal communities better prepare themselves for higher and more damaging waves, stronger storms, rising sea level and other anticipated changes.

The latest issue of OSG’s Confluence magazine examines some of the issues coastal Oregon faces, and ways in which Sea Grant is helping citizens and scientists address them, from anticipating the effects of climate change to building resilience in the face of them – and better understanding how people with different backgrounds and philosophies can even communicate about the topic.

Other articles in this issue include

  • Profiles of several Oregon Sea Grant Scholars, and how their student experiences in Sea Grant internships and fellowships helped prepare them for careers in marine science and public policy
  • A new app that helps coastal visitors identify critters they find on the beach – and contribute to citizen science by reporting them.
  • A study of how juvenile Dungeness crab move through coastal waters as they mature, and an exhibit at the Hatfield Marine Science Center that explains what scientists are learning, and how it might benefit the crab fishery.

Learn more

A summer opportunity – Oregon South Coast Tourism

College students: Looking for a great way to spend the summer while learning and working with coastal Oregon communities? Take a look at our newest fellowship opportunity on Oregon’s south coast!

Oregon Sea Grant and the Wild Rivers Coast Alliance (WRCA) are offering an epic summer outreach experience. One upper-level undergraduate or graduate level student will experience the beauty of the south coast and help develop WRCA coastal tourism programs and initiatives to vitalize south coast communities. This hands-on experience features mentorship by a career professional, student housing in Bandon, Oregon, if needed, and a summer stipend. The fellowship dates are flexible -between June and September- and will span about ten weeks.

Visit http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/education/fellowships for more details about the fellowship and to submit an application.

Application deadline: May 30, 2014.

 

Fellowship opportunities in the new year

Check out several new fellowship opportunities, including the newly announced 2015 Knauss Fellowship:  http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/education/fellowships

Current opportunities

Want to find out more what it’s like to be an Oregon Sea Grant Scholar?