NOAA Sea Grant and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced today that Joe Langan, a student at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography, was selected as one of seven 2018 NMFS-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship recipients. Langan, whose dissertation research focuses on understanding the decline of winter flounder in Narragansett Bay, is a Ph.D. candidate in Oceanography studying under GSO professor Dr. Jeremy Collie, and an M.S. student in Statistics at URI’s Department of Computer Science and Statistics studying under Dr. Gavino Puggioni. His work during the fellowship will focus on improving projections of groundfish stock biomass to more sustainably manage New England’s fisheries.
“My education at GSO, both in Oceanography and Statistics, has given me the skills I need to pursue this incredible opportunity,” said Langan. “I am eager to continue to learn from both of my URI advisors, and my NOAA mentor, Dr. Chris Legault, as I pursue this project for my M.S. thesis in Statistics. Participating in this fellowship program and working on this research will greatly enhance my education and prepare me for my future career.”
Langan, who was recently profiled in the This is GSO video series, is an active member of the Narragansett Bay Campus community, teaching K-12 students about coastal science through the Narragansett Bay Classroom program and serving as a mentor to an undergraduate student participating in the SURFO program. Langan is also the founder and current Program Coordinator for the Bay Informed Discussion Series, a graduate student-led series of talks designed for the community to learn more about the research happening at GSO.
The NMFS-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship program supports students pursuing doctoral degrees in population and ecosystem dynamics as well as marine resource economics. The program is a focused workforce development effort to train highly qualified professionals in areas of critical need for NOAA’s science-based approach to fisheries management.
Fellows are chosen through a two-step competitive process that involves review by the sponsoring state Sea Grant program followed by a national review by an expert panel.
Since its inception, the joint fellowship program has supported 94 population and ecosystem dynamics students and 36 marine resource economics students. About 40 percent of the alumni now work for NOAA.