Students
Hannah Blondin, hblondin at stanford dot edu
I am interested in pelagic fish species habitat utilization and fisheries interactions. Dynamic ocean management can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of management within fisheries when compared to traditional, stationary approaches. I hope to conduct research that explores these ideas further, by way of observations and modeling. I am interested in both the movements of these dynamic resources and the factors that influence these movements and migrations.
Rachel Carlson, rrcarl at stanford dot edu
Rachel is a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. Rachel is interested in using geospatial technology, including remote sensing, to help policymakers optimize marine conservation. She plans to research marine spatial planning approaches to protect dynamic and trans-boundary marine species under climate change. Prior to joining Stanford, Rachel worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for four years, where she led mapping and outreach programs to protect drinking water and coastal ecosystems. She has also worked for numerous environmental initiatives in Senegal, Ireland, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Rachel is a 2018 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in Ecology and a Stanford Graduate Fellow in Science and Engineering. She holds a Master's in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a B.A. in English from Rice University, as well as a Master's in International Politics from Trinity College, Dublin.
Sabrina Devereaux, sabrina.g.devereaux at gmail dot com
Sabrina is a joint JD-MS student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources focused on marine conservation law and policy. Before joining Stanford, Sabrina worked as a fisheries policy analyst for the National Marine Fisheries Service and conducted fieldwork in the Bering Sea as a North Pacific Groundfish Observer. She graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Environmental Science and Public Policy, where she completed a senior thesis on the efficacy of small-scale fisheries management in rural Madagascar.
Safari Fang, dsfang at stanford dot edu
I am a Ph.D. student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. I am interested in aquaculture and fisheries, food security, environmental learning, and community-based conservation and education. I have been studying small-scale aquaculture and fisheries and how policy, markets, social learning networks, and climate change affect their sustainable development. Throughout my research, I have engaged diverse stakeholders in the global food system and fostered collaborations among sectors for the sustainable use of ocean resources. Before coming to Stanford, I received an M.S. in Coastal Science and Policy from UC Santa Cruz and a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Biology from Beloit College. I am an alumna of the Blue Pioneers Program, a leadership development program for ocean conservationists from Asia. I serve on the board of directors of Demos Education Hub, an environmental education and community development NGO in Hainan, China.
Kristen Marie Green, kmgreen at stanford dot edu
Kristen is a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. Her PhD research examines the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental drivers that stimulate stakeholder engagement in Alaskan communities. She is interested in how communities highly dependent on coastal resources might adapt and maintain resiliency in the face of climate change. Prior to beginning her PhD, Kristen worked for six years as biologist and fishery manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game where she designed fisheries management strategies and communicated policies for the commercial groundfish and shellfish fisheries in Southeast Alaska. She has extensive experience collaborating with local stakeholders on issues of small-scale fisheries, marine resource use, and developing harvest policies. She holds a Master's in Marine Science with an emphasis in Ichthyology from Moss Landing Marine Labs and a B.S. in Aquatic Biology from UC Santa Barbara.
Katrina C. Hounchell, hounchel at stanford dot edu
I am utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to study coral bleaching and restoration by incorporating knowledge from genetics/genomics, ecology, and local communities to better understand how to effectively scale reef restoration globally in the face of climate change.
Christopher Knight, cjknight at stanford dot edu
Chris is a PhD student in the Biology Program and a current NSF Graduate Research Fellow. He is interested in exploring how human activity affects marine resources and the coastal communities that rely on them. In doing so, he aims to develop creative solutions to alleviate negative impacts and bolster conservation efforts. Before attending Stanford, Chris was a US Fulbright Fellow to Chile. He earned B.A. in both Ecology and Spanish from the University of California, Davis.
Chloe Mikles, csmikles at stanford dot edu
Chloe is a PhD student in the Biology program, a current NSF graduate research fellow and Stanford Graduate Fellow. She is interested in understanding how oceanographic changes and anthropogenic impacts shape ecological and evolutionary processes in highly migratory marine species. Prior to attending Stanford, Chloe received her B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell University, where she studied salt marsh adaptation in the Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. She also worked with North Carolina State's marine fisheries program, where she studied the effects of catch-and-release angling on post-release mortality of dolphinfish, triggerfish, and deep water grouper species.
Will Oestreich, woestreich at stanford dot edu
Will is a PhD student in the Biology program, an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, and the current David and Lucile Packard Foundation Stanford Graduate Fellow. His research interests center on migratory species, including environmental/oceanographic drivers of migration, social and collective behavior in migration, tools for observing migration in remote ecosystems, and dynamic and equitable resource management strategies for migratory species' habitats. Will often uses bioacoustic and biologging techniques to study wild populations, including the focal species of his dissertation work (blue whales) and his favorite backyard critters (bats). He received both his BS and MS degrees in environmental engineering from Northwestern University and formerly worked at both the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Will is co-advised by Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen. [Webpage]
Josheena Naggea, jnaggea at stanford dot edu
Josheena is a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, working on marine governance in the Western Indian Ocean. Her research interests are adaptive management of Marine Protected Areas, stakeholder engagement, and the valorization of natural and cultural heritage in Marine Spatial Planning.
Francisca Santana, fsantana at stanford dot edu
Francisca is a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. She studies social-ecological systems in coastal regions, with a focus on how sense of place and social structure influence community participation and engagement in policy and planning. She is interested in current and historical trends in community response to environmental change caused by resource extractive industries, pollution, erosion, and climate change. She conducts field work primarily in coastal Louisiana and Hawaii. Before coming to Stanford, Francisca worked on energy and marine policy issues in the nonprofit and government sectors. She received a master's degree in environmental science and management from UC Santa Barbara and a BA in history from Yale University.
Bianca Santos, bsantos9 at stanford dot edu
Bianca is a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. She is interested in developing innovative science-based solutions to mitigate human activities and conserve protected marine species. Prior to Stanford, Bianca served as a 2018 National Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in NOAA Research’s Office of International Activities and as an intern with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy. She earned an M.S. in Marine Science with concentrations in fisheries science and marine policy from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, where she studied causes of sea turtle mortality in the Chesapeake Bay. Bianca also holds a B.S. with Honors in Marine Vertebrate Biology and a minor in Ecosystems and Human Impact from Stony Brook University, NY.
Taylor Souza, taysouza at stanford dot edu
Taylor is a PhD student in the Biology program and is interested in investigating coral reef ecology and exploring the movement of endemic Hawaiian reef fish of conservation and fishery concern in response to ecological and anthropogenic stressors. She is interested in investigating the biogeography of reef fish as well as their habitat utilization to better inform fisheries management and policy and lay the groundwork for ecosystem-based fisheries management in the face of global change. Prior to beginning her PhD, Taylor worked for three years at NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center as a Large Marine Ecosystem Research Technician, working towards designating the Marianas as the first archipelagic Large Marine Ecosystem in the world. She received her B.S. in Environmental Science from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.
Alana Faith Springer, alana3 at stanford dot edu
I am a doctoral candidate in Anthropology with a human-environment focus. My research interests pertain to collective action issues in natural resource management, specifically fisheries. I study mātaitai (customary fishing reserves) in New Zealand, which are small, multi-use fishing reserves co-managed by local indigenous groups and Fisheries New Zealand, an arm of the national government. I am interested in the social and ecological outcomes of local attempts at self-organizing within this management strategy. I am implementing a mixed methods approach in my project, including ethnographic, spatial, and social network data collection. Through this research, I hope to inform our understanding of the factors that foster and maintain successful collaboration in resource management amongst diverse stakeholders at several scales.
Shannon (Switzer) Swanson, shanswan at stanford dot edu
I am a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, a Teresa Elms and Robert D. Lindsay Fellow and a National Geographic Young Explorer. I study fishing communities in small island nations in South East Asia and Oceania and how they are affected by tourism, marine protected areas, conflict, social learning networks, and governance structures. Drawing from my career as a conservation/travel photojournalist, I am also interested in developing new participatory methods of research using film and photography. Before coming to Stanford, I received a masters in Coastal Management from Duke University and a B.S. in Biological Sciences and B.A. in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara.
Jose Urteaga, jurteaga at stanford dot edu
My research interest is on the governance and sustainable management of marine natural resources in developing countries.
Former Stanford Graduate Students
Elena M. Finkbeiner, PhD Biology 2014
Cassandra M. Brooks, PhD EIPER 2017
Julia G. Mason, PhD Biology 2019
Tim H. Frawley, PhD Biology 2019
