An Irreconcilable Conflict?
Marine Ecologist Rafe Sagarin Bridges the Gap Between Scientific Fact and Advocacy
by Tim Lucas
Like the tides that ebb and flow across the coastal ecosystems he studies, Rafe Sagarin is naturally pulled in two directions.
On one hand, he’s a dispassionate scientist, an “old school” marine ecologist who strives for absolute objectivity in his studies of species abundance, historical ecology and the long-term responses of intertidal communities and other marine populations to human impacts such as climate change.
On the other hand, he’s a passionate advocate for scientific engagement, with a lifelong interest in the political process and a commitment to applying his scholarly expertise for the public good.
An irreconcilable conflict? Far from it, says Sagarin, associate director for ocean and coastal policy at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and assistant research professor at the Nicholas School.
“Scientific objectivity and scientific engagement are not mutually exclusive,” he says emphatically. “I believe that infusing timely, unbiased science into policy adds value to both.”
Sagarin leads the Nicholas Institute’s efforts to integrate ecosystem-based management of ocean and coastal resources into policies at the national, international and state levels.
“For most of my career I’ve been searching for a balance between natural science and the political connection to it, looking for somewhere I could do both,” the gregarious 36-year-old Connecticut native says. “It’s very hard to find in the academic world. But I feel like I’ve found it here.”
He came to Duke in 2006 following stints in both the academic and policy worlds, working as a research biologist at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and the University of California at Santa Barbara, and as a Geological Society of America AAAS Congressional Science Fellow in the office of U.S. Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-Calif.).
Sagarin’s professional journey—which he likens to the aboriginal concept of a “walkabout”—began on the sun-kissed tidal flats of Cape Cod Bay where he spent the summers of his childhood immersed in the natural world.
“I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist by the time I was seven or eight,” he says. “Our place was about a quartermile walk from the beach, and most mornings I’d check in on the family chalkboard and head out, usually by myself, to explore.” Days were spent staging hermit crab wars and pondering the mysteries of mermaid’s purses and sand dabs.