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| From Facebook: The happy announcement! |
Emily Liljestrand: Can you describe in your own words, what
is the Knauss Fellowship?
Alexandra Atkinson: Sure. It’s a Fellowship that gives
graduate students an opportunity to explore the path of science in marine policy
and management. Typically Knauss Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds,
including the “hard” sciences, such as myself, at the Masters or PhD level. But
there are also law students and those studying scientific policies. So we come from a variety of backgrounds, but
the idea is to learn where these fields meet- how science effects policy and
vice versa, where science is used to shape and implement policy, and the
logistics of how all this occurs. Knauss
Fellows are placed in a legislative or executive branch “host” office for a one
year paid Fellowship. You work with them
for a year and your experience is partially designed by you, your interests,
your goals, and partially by the available projects that have been designated
for Knauss Fellows.
Emily: So is this for University of Maryland students alone?
Alex: No, it’s a national Fellowship. Typically they take a few students from each
Sea Grant program. This does not
necessarily mean each state is represented though. For example, because Illinois and Indiana have a joint Sea Grant program, there might be two students from Illinois and
none from Indiana. Nonetheless, because
students are chosen this way, there’s representation from across the
country. You have to be a student to
apply for this Fellowship, and you apply to your local Sea Grant program, which
is why I was chosen among all the applicants in Maryland colleges and
universities.
Emily: Are the projects you work on solely related to
fisheries?
Alex: It’s not just fisheries. For example, do you remember Jess [Foley], a
student here who is a current fellow?
She’s mostly interested in seagrass, modeling, and wetland
restoration. So no, it is not just
fisheries. But there are plenty of
opportunities to work with departments that do
emphasize fisheries and pursue projects therein. I will probably look to interview with a
couple offices that focus their efforts in fisheries. That’s includes NOAA’s Office of Highly Migratory Species that deals with tuna and other fish species. There’s also the Office of Sustainable Fisheries
that has plenty of projects currently ongoing.
But there are departments doing things not remotely fishery related, and
I might find those interesting too. There’s a whole process of just learning
about all the opportunities for Knauss Fellows. It’s a marathon of presentations
where a few representatives from each department pitch you on what they do and
what they’d want their Fellow to do, giving you a lot of information in a short
amount of time. Based on those you can
say “oh! This one really stuck out to me” and go from there.
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| Tuna, Shark, Swordfish, and Billfish, the four highly migratory species studied by the aforementioned NOAA office |
Emily: And you just tell them what you’re interested in
and-?
Alex: There’s a placement week. Right now [in August] I’m not doing
anything. “Placement Week” is in
November which is when you watch those presentations and coordinate interviews
with those departments that you feel would make the best fit. You go through these, you interview them,
they interview you, at the end of the week, Fellows are matched with their host
offices. It’s a complicated and stressful system, but it’s the best way for
them to find everyone a placement.
Emily: So, does it start in November?
Alex: Nope, it doesn’t start in November. It starts February 1 of next year. So I am a
class of 2016 fellow. Don’t let that confuse you. Jess Foley just started her Fellowship this January and the application process
takes a while. I applied in January of
this year and then I found out I was a finalist among the applicants from
Maryland in March, and got the ultimate acceptance at the national level at the
end of April. So you have 10 months to
get ready for the Fellowship. Which is
fantastic because it gives me time to finish writing my thesis. Many Fellows
start out with unfinished work, either a masters or PhD work. This program is
great because the departments understand that and will say “hey, if you need a
day or week to go work on your thesis, that’s fine,” and they provide a
flexible, rearranging schedule for Fellows.
Emily: So you’re planning to still work for David [Secor]
right up until you move to D.C. next year?
Alex: Yup! I hope to finish up my thesis and defend by the
end of the fall semester. Then Dave has some funding for me to stay on and help
out with Brian [Gallagher]’s project, so I’ll be helping Brian with white perch
otoliths. And after that I have some
flex time. I’ll have some time between
September and January when hopefully I can get part time work around CBL,
either as a lab tech for somebody or a lab manager, or just helping out with a
project somewhere. It’d be nice to have a month off before everything got too
crazy. In the meantime, I’ll move to DC, probably right around the New
Year. All the potential host offices are
in the DC metropolitan area, so I’m trying to look for somewhere near a metrostop and commute into work.
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| White perch otolith. Source: Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) |
Emily: Do you already have an idea of what specific work you
want to do as a Knauss Fellow?
Alex: Not really. It
depends so much on where I end up wanting to be placed, which all depends on
placement week. I find that I’m very
passionate about the applied side of fisheries.
I’ve been doing the science-y side for a few years now, and I’m more
interested in where that science is applied to lead to more sustainable
fisheries. I’d be very interesting to get that new perspective. Now I want to learn about policy and
management and expand on what I’ve learned in classes here.
Emily: And are you leaning towards that kind of work in the
long term?
Alex: That’s an area I want to be in. I’m not really the
type of person that has that one “dream job” necessarily. For me, I feel like
there’s still so much to learn in the field of policy and management, including
what kinds of positions there are and the roles people play. I’ll figure out what I’m qualified to do,
what I’m not qualified to do.
Emily: So the future is a bit of a “known unknown”?
Alex: Right! Knauss will help me learn about the kinds of
job options out there and then I’ll have a better idea of what I want to do
within this field. It’s not uncommon
that Knauss Fellows get hired in their respective host offices after their Fellowship. In these cases, it’s like you’re getting a
test run of the office and they’re giving you a test run. At the end of the year, you get to ask
yourself, “is this something I want to continue doing or do I want to explore a
different office?”
Emily: Would you say finding out what you don’t want to do is just as valuable?
Alex: Definitely.
There have been Fellows that go into this right after doing their
Masters degree who realize they want back into science and go on to do their
PhD. In the end, it’s helping them
figure something out, even if
ultimately they’re not interested in what they’d done for the past year. It’s a really cool opportunity in that way.
Emily: You nervous?
Alex: Mostly just so excited! The class has people from all
over, so obviously they’re not regionally close, but maybe I’ll meet them along
the way (before November). Some of the
current Fellows attended the D.C. networking event on Thursday [June 18th],
so I got to meet with a variety of people in various offices and learn about
what projects they’re doing.
Emily: I’m sure
you’re going to do great. UMCES does a
good job in prepping its students for whatever they do afterwards. Is there something specific you did here at
CBL or during your time here that got you ready? Did you get at least some exposure to policy?
Alex: Good question. I would say things like being able to
go to ASMFC [Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission] meetings have been
great exposure. There was the trip to
the Omega Protein menhaden processing plant in Reedville, VA we did with the
AFS student subunit, which was definitely something that got the wheels turning
towards my interest in management by allowing me to meet people that are directly
affected by changes in regulation of the fishery. Those were the kinds of experiences that gave
me a much better perspective of the industry.
I’ve been pursuing a very specific menhaden project that sometimes
blinds me to the bigger picture. But
those ASMFC meetings also expose you to a different side of things, not just
number crunching, models, and data. You
realize there’s a whole other set of interests that substantially complicate
things.
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| Most important picture of Reedville, VA. Source: Alexandra Atkinson |
Emily: What about around here at CBL? Any lectures or classes you particularly
loved or you felt helped prepare you for the Knauss?
Alex: The Fisheries Science and Management course is
great. It was certainly one of the first
times I’d been exposed to the management and policy side of it. We had a guest
lecture you might have had as well, from Toni Kerns and Jessica Coakley-
Emily: I don’t think I took that course yet. Who taught it?
Alex: Oh! It’s Dave [Secor]’s course. You’ll love it. He will have a guest lecture to introduce
policy and management. It will be someone from the mid-Atlantic council, like
Jessica and someone from the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission, like
Toni. They give you a really broad run through of “this is what fisheries
management is. This is how it works.” So that was valuable exposure.
Emily: That’s great. Any last words for our theoretical blog
readers?
Alex: There’re still a lot of unknowns. I’ll keep you updated when I know more about
what’s going on, something more tangible. But at this point, just know I’m
happy and excited.
Congrats again Alex!
Congrats again Alex!
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