People and Programs

Coral reefs are foundational and iconic ecosystems that have long captivated many with their vibrant colors, interesting ecology, and ecosystem productivity. However, these beautiful reefs are facing their biggest challenge yet: climate change. How can immobile marine organisms, such as corals, survive and thrive in waters that are steadily warming? Leslie Guerrero, a PhD student in the Bay Lab at UC Davis, is working tirelessly to answer these questions.

Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries recently announced the 2021 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship recipients. Five population and ecosystem dynamics fellowships and two marine resource economics fellowships were awarded through this national program.

The fellowships offered within this program are aimed at training the next generation of specialized experts in fisheries management. The program addresses the critical need for future fisheries scientists with expertise in stock assessment and related fields.

NOAA SeaGrant announced 74 finalists for the 2022 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program, including Carina Fish, a Ph.D. Candidate in the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Congratulations to Carina and to all the finalists, who will spend the next year learning and shaping marine and coastal policy development.

We celebrate all of you and the enthusiasm, passion, and dedication to marine science that has brought you here, and will lead you to revolutionize scientific understanding of our field, communicate, connect, and engage with communities, and become educators, researchers, and world-changers.

Meet some of this year's grads, and find out where they're headed next:

This article is a guest post by Maya Weeks, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis, and a recipient of the 2020-2021 Bilinski Fellowships at Bodega Marine Laboratory. This blog is featured here because we recognize the need to showcase diverse viewpoints and experiences. The views and opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the position of the Institute, UC Davis, or the UC system.

Written by: Maya Weeks

cup corals

hang tight

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Anya Brown will be joining the Department of Evolution and Ecology as the new Marine Ecologist hire based at Bodega Marine Laboratory! Anya's research seeks to integrate microbial and community ecology and will bring a new and exciting research direction to CMSI. Dr. Brown is also deeply committed to teaching, mentoring, and service and she is eager to join our efforts to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion within our academic community.

The Coastal and Marine Science Institute is pleased to announce the first-ever recipient of the Dr. Susan Lynn Williams Memorial Graduate Award: Jessica Griffin, a Ph.D. Candidate in the University of California, Davis and San Diego State University joint doctoral program in ecology. This $1,000 award will help support Jessica’s project, titled “The Importance of Environmental Context for Mediating Bivalve Effects on Eelgrass”.

California Sea Grant is pleased to announce seven new research projects, a total of  $346,000, supporting early-career faculty members at universities throughout the state. The one-year projects focus on two key areas of California Sea Grant’s strategic plan: sustainable fisheries & aquaculture, and coastal resilience. Continue reading the announcement here.

Over the course of eight weeks, I had the opportunity to work with Veronica, a Ph.D. student at UCD, to learn about mussel shells, and look at their growth pattern over time. Her study mainly focused on the species, Mytilus californianus, also known as California mussels. Prior to this internship, I had some knowledge about mussel shells from my Zoology class. However, I did not know that they could be used as environmental recorders. It was interesting to learn how they can hold information about their environments in their shell growth bands.