{"id":14952,"date":"2021-04-19T11:24:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T15:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=14952"},"modified":"2023-04-21T11:06:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T15:06:48","slug":"14952-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/profiles\/14952-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Ocean and Coastal Policy Director for President Obama Brings National Leadership Experience and Mentorship to CELS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Former Ocean and Coastal Policy Director for President Obama Brings <\/strong>National Leadership Experience and Mentorship to CELS<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Gabriella Placido, CELS Communications Fellow<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Whitley Saumweber\u2019s deep appreciation for the ocean began in his childhood and took him all the way to the White House. \u201cI always had an emotional connection and intellectual curiosity in marine science,\u201d says Saumweber, former associate director of Ocean and Coastal Policy in President Obama\u2019s White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). He\u2019s currently a Visiting Professor in the Marine Affairs Department at the University of Rhode Island\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS).<\/p>\n

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Saumweber grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. where family visits to the beach were a core part of his childhood, fostering an innate connection to ocean stewardship and national politics. He attended St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland where he studied marine biology along with the Chesapeake BayAfter graduation, Saumweber embarked on what he calls \u201ca life-changing experience\u201d during a semester at sea with the\u00a0Sea Education Association (SEA).<\/a> \u201cThat was it, I fell in love with being a mariner and going to sea,\u201d he states. It ultimately led him to spend three years, after graduating, sailing throughout the Western Atlantic and Caribbean Seas as a crew member aboard tall ships. \u201cI loved being at sea so much that I nearly gave up a science career for it!\u201d he states.<\/p>\n

Saumweber went on to earn his Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the URI Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) where he was able to continue spending time at sea aboard GSO research vessels. \u201cMy experience sailing with SEA crystallized my interests in marine science and coastal biology into oceanography, leading me towards GSO,\u201d he explains. This program also furthered his interest in ocean stewardship and his desire to help bridge the gap between science and policy.<\/p>\n

Saumweber was awarded the prestigious NOAA Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship<\/a> after obtaining his Ph.D., which enabled him to return to Washington, D.C. and work for the late Senator Daniel Inouye, who was known as the \u201cDean of the Ocean\u201d in the Senate. \u201cThat year, a lot of crucial political ocean work was occurring with Senator Inouye leading much of the way,\u201d he says. Saumweber worked with Senator Inouye on landmark ocean legislation, including the last significant authorization of the major U.S. fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation, and Management Act; the first passage of marine plastics legislation under the Trash Free Seas Act; the passage of the Tsunami Warning Education Bill; and other significant oceans legislation.<\/p>\n

Dr. Saumweber worked his way up the political ladder to lead ocean governance reform under President Obama in the White House Council on Environmental Quality and as a senior policy advisor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator.<\/p>\n

Saumweber, who is widely known as an influential change agent in marine policy, has also been a leader in successfully elevating major ocean sustainability issues onto the national agenda. These areas include illegal fishing, marine protected areas, climate change, sustainable fisheries management, marine plastic pollution, and more.<\/p>\n

In addition to establishing multiple marine reserves of global significance, including the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the New England coast, Saumweber also played a crucial role in creating the country\u2019s first seafood traceability program to tackle illegal fishing. He also oversaw new policies in the Arctic related to sustainable fisheries and the banning of off-shore drilling in some of these vulnerable areas.<\/p>\n

Saumweber, who has held various teaching positions over the years, has always had an affinity for teaching and mentoring students interested in marine affairs and policy. \u201cWhat a great journey and voyage to end up back in Rhode Island,\u201d exclaims Saumweber, who now teaches courses related to federal ocean policy in CELS\u2019 Department of Marine Affairs \u201cI was drawn to this faculty position in CELS because of the opportunity to join a group of real policy thought leaders,\u201d he explains. \u201cLearning is a two-way street and I\u2019m excited to learn from my amazing colleagues and the students I mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saumweber is still involved in political work in Washington, D.C., serving as the director of the Stephenson Ocean Security Project<\/a> at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. \u201cThis project works on getting illegal fishing and other global ocean sustainability issues into the national security sphere,\u201d he states.\u00a0\u201cWe are now seeing these important topics becoming a part of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Saumweber sees an opportunity for Rhode Island and New England to serve as role models and leaders in ocean governance. \u201cI\u2019m excited to contemplate how I can build institutions that better connect both science and policy,\u201d he states. \u201cCELS is one of the institutions that do great work on this. There\u2019s a real opportunity for New England to serve as a nursing ground for broader U.S. policy in terms of ocean governance.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Ocean and Coastal Policy Director for President Obama Brings National Leadership Experience and Mentorship to CELS By Gabriella Placido, CELS Communications Fellow Dr. Whitley Saumweber\u2019s deep appreciation for the ocean began in his childhood and took him all the way to the White House. \u201cI always had an emotional connection and intellectual curiosity in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profiles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17438,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14952\/revisions\/17438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}