click on photo for full portrait |
 Although
she grew up in landlocked Lawrence, Kansas, Jessica Maher knew she wanted
to specialize in marine science well before she entered college. For
four years at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, she spent
at least one day a week on the water, participating in bottlenose dolphin
surveys as a member of Dr. Laela Sayigh’s lab. During this time, she
met Dr. Andy Read of the Duke University Marine Laboratory, so it was
almost inevitable that she came to Duke to pursue an MEM in Coastal
Environmental Management.
After a year of coursework in Durham, Jessica spent a year at her “home
away from home,” the Read lab at Beaufort. “I cannot say enough positive
things about Andy Read,” she says. “He is an amazing advisor, an amazing
teacher, and a role model for people who want to be both a researcher
and an advocate, a position that can be precarious for some scientists.
However, most importantly, he is an amazing person.”
Beaufort afforded Jessica with an ideal environment for pursuing her
studies in marine science and policy. “It’s a small fishing community,”
she says, “and you can understand fishing issues on a level that you
just can’t comprehend if you’re not right there.” The coastal community
also offered the marine educational facilities of UNC, N.C. State, and
several state agencies.
In addition to researching a Master’s Project in which she helped conduct
dolphin surveys in militarily-restricted parts of the Pamlico Sound,
Jessica worked with local fourth-graders as part of a National Science
Foundation program to strengthen science education in K-12 classes.
She liked “her” kids so much that she continued volunteering in the
local schools after her NSF fellowship ended. She was also active in
the student chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology, teaming
up with several other CEM students to strengthen the Society’s activities
at the Marine Lab.
After graduation, Jessica spent several more months working in Read’s
lab before heading to Washington D.C. as a Sea Grant Fellow in the office
of Representative Sam Farr of California. Farr’s district includes the
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a protected area off California’s
Central Coast, and the Representative is keenly interested in issues
of marine preservation. Jessica will be his point person for marine
conservation, fisheries and related issues, attending and organizing
hearings, forging alliances with other representatives, drafting legislation,
and helping in other ways to get Representative Farr’s agenda through
the system.
Once the Sea Grant Fellowship concludes, she hopes to find similar
work on Capitol Hill or in an agency such as NOAA. She says, “I firmly
believe in the power of individual action and I hope to be active in
shaping a future that celebrates diversity, nurtures respect and equality
for all people, and promotes reverence of non-human elements on earth.
|
