CRC would like to congratulate departing students on their hard work and commemorate their time with CRC. Student work is essential to CRC operations and their assistance on various projects has helped to spread awareness and continuously improve opportunities and conditions for coastal communities. We are saddened by the departure of these students, but are confident they will go on to accomplish great things.
Ted Donovan
Edward Donovan otherwise known as Ted Donavan, who has graduated with his B.S. in philosophy and health studies, has worked for Coastal Resources Center (CRC) on the USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project COVID-19 response for 11 months from June 2020 – April 2021. He was recommended to us by faculty in the Department of Health Services as we wanted someone with some public health background and interest in international development. His whole time working with us was virtual, given the COVID pandemic, and none of us have ever met him in person to date! Ted conducted desktop research on potential indicators for measuring the food security impact of cash assistance provided to 2000 vulnerable fishing households in Ghana over a four-month period. He also learned how to program and test tablet-based survey forms and set up automated voice interactive phone polling for monitoring cash beneficiaries and monitoring of fish landing sites where the project set up hand washing stations and supplies to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in fishing communities. He worked with the CRC team as well as several in-country staff on this project, all online and while holding several other jobs, not to mention a full load of coursework during the school year. Additionally, Ted was this year’s recipient of the Academic Excellence Award in philosophy. Ted was able to fit right in with the project team, getting to know us all in the virtual world. He was incredibly hard working and conscientious and was a great asset at a time when we had to implement activities at lightning speed. He quickly learned new tasks and skills needed for the job. Ted persevered in his work even at a time when he was dealing with the loss of family members.I don’t know how he managed it all, but he did. After graduating in May, he intends to take some time off from school, prior to potentially returning for graduate school. We wish him all the best, and he most certainly will be successful at whatever path he chooses in life.
Mary Ellen Hawkins
Mary Ellen Hawkins, who has graduated with her B.S. in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, has served as a key member of CRC’s U.S. Team – specifically on the Offshore Renewable Energy and Blue Economy projects. With guidance from Jennifer McCann, Director of U.S. Coastal Programs/Rhode Island Sea Grant Director of Extension Programs, Hawkins provided significant support to the “Ask the Experts” component of the URI Offshore Renewable Energy website, and contributed to research, outreach, and communications efforts. An aspiring singer, musician, and songwriter, Hawkins, a 2020 URI Energy Fellow and social chair of the URI Environmental and Natural Resource Economic Student Association (ENRESA) anticipates that her CRC experience with coastal and ocean issues will serve her well in her future endeavors. Congratulations, Mary Ellen!
Travis Hunter
John Hunter otherwise known as Travis Hunter, who has graduated with his B.S. in Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics, started work at CRC in the summer of 2017 at the end of his freshman year at URI. He came with a lot of experience in troubleshooting IT issues having worked on IT for the North Kingstown School District as well as the town school committee recording their meetings. He came up to speed right away and has been the point person on help desk efforts for the MIS group at CRC. Travis quickly learned new server-side systems at CRC for central file management, Anti-Virus distribution and network infrastructure. He excelled at researching and developing new systems administration tools and wrote some on his own. When a problem arose he was visibly excited by the chance to tackle it and saw it through to a solution. He is a major asset to CRC and his departure will be a big loss for us. I will surely miss the great energy he brought to the position. But he is already landing job offers and some competition from different organizations to bring him on board. He will be an asset to whomever manages to sign him.
Crosby Lynch
Crosby Lynch, who has graduated with his B.S. in Finance as well as a minor in Economics started as the CRC Business Intern in the Summer of 2019. He spent the majority of his time working to support the financial administration of the Fish Right USAID $25 million grant. In his time with CRC, he helped to build and upkeep numerous tracking devices, solve mysteries in piles of backup documentation, and was always willing and able to take on whatever tasks were sent his way. Up next, he has accepted a position as a Financial Analyst at Citizens. We at CRC congratulate him on all his achievements, and wish him the best of luck moving forward!