The National Sea Grant College Program has awarded Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowships to three Maine graduates.
Jeffrey Vieser, Liana James and Andrew Strosahl join 49 fellow graduates from around the country who will spend a year working on marine policy in Washington, D.C. The fellowships provide the opportunity for recent graduates to apply their scientific background to marine and coastal policymaking at the national level.
Vieser of Metuchen, New Jersey is one of two Maine Sea Grant scholars selected in 2012 for a year of Sea Grant graduate student research support in the dual degree program in marine science and policy at the University of Maine. As part of his graduate research, Vieser evaluated the potential environmental impacts of the first grid-connected, in-stream tidal power device in the United States. Vieser has worked at the NY/NJ Baykeeper and AmeriCorps, where he faced challenges solving freshwater and marine environmental issues. For his Knauss Fellowship, Vieser will work as a fisheries science coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science and Technology.
James of Boulder, Colorado, a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law, completed her undergraduate degree at Juniata College. As an undergraduate, James sailed aboard the Robert C. Seamans during her semester with Sea Education Association (SEA). During her time with SEA, James sailed to Christmas Island, part of the Republic of Kiribati, where sea-level rise poses an immediate danger to island communities. James has been appointed policy liaison to the executive director of the Committee on the Marine Transportation System.
Strosahl of Southington, Connecticut and Dover, New Hampshire is a graduate of Maine Maritime Academy and received his law degree at the University of Maine School of Law, where he developed legal briefs for the Law School and the Conservation Law Foundation. Before completing his law degree, he worked in the merchant marine as a civilian with the U.S. Navy. He received several awards for his service with the Navy, as well as a Commandant’s Citation at Maine Maritime Academy. Strosahl will serve in the office of U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii during his Knauss Fellowship.
The Knauss Fellowship was established in 1979 for students interested in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and the national policy decisions that affect those resources. Qualified graduate students spend a year with hosts in the legislative and executive branch of government. The program is named in honor of one of the founders of the National Sea Grant College Program, former NOAA Administrator John A. Knauss.
