Greetings all!

I can’t believe my first year as a graduate student is already done (at least for schoolwork). The last couple of months have been focused on getting methods, materials, and interview guides compiled and out for comments among a great group of fellow graduate students. Although there ended up being a slight re-adjustment to the aim of the study, it now reflects what is needed by the marine resource managers better than the original version.

Additionally, I was in a marine and coastal ecology class which had an awesome fieldtrip to the study site near Boiler Bay on the Oregon Coast. Below is a sampling of the awesome plants, animals, and everything in between we got to find while we were out there.

I was also continuing to share my thesis poster at both the Portland State University Student Research Symposium in early May.

And the Joint Campus Student Symposium, which combines Portland State University, Oregon State University, and University of Oregon. Portland had the honor of hosting this year in late May.

I am heading off to northern Michigan next week to the International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM) conference. They are incorporating a tribes component for the first time this year, which fit right into my focus. In addition to attending talks, networking, and showing my poster, there is also a field trip of a (lake) coastal restoration lead by a tribe. The conference itself should be very interesting, and I have never had the chance to set foot in Michigan before. All this to say I’m very excited for the academic and travel opportunity.

Next steps are mostly a full launch of the field studies for thesis work. With the warming days I’m anticipating excellent weather between Portland and the coast. More pictures to follow. Onward to the summer field season!

Sabra