After completing her degree in December, Rennie Meyers (MAMA 18) will work on the Hill in Washington D.C. as  a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the Legislative Branch. She is one of 66 student of marine science or policy selected for the fellowship beginning February 2019.

Specializing in artificial reef development and tourism studies, Meyers conducted a full summer of ethnographic fieldwork on underwater sculpture’s role in tourism development in the Canary Islands. She continues to develop her work exploring coral restoration and coastal resilience design from a Thomas J

Watson Fellowship, which enabled fieldwork across southeast and eastern Asia. She will be placed with a legislative office in December and is eager to reconnect to the policy process.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, established in 1979, matches qualified graduate students interested in ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources and the national policy decisions affecting those resources with hosts in the federal legislative or executive branches of government. The fellowship is named for the former dean of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography who also served as NOAA administrator.

Before graduating, Rennie is excited to audit a Environmental Crisis Communication course with former Knauss Fellow and Executive Director of URI’s Metcalf Institute, and spend time with the increible students she’s met in the Marine Affairs program.