{"id":13358,"date":"2026-10-02T08:09:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/?p=13358"},"modified":"2026-10-02T10:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T14:07:37","slug":"natalie-snyder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/2026\/10\/02\/natalie-snyder\/","title":{"rendered":"Natalie Snyder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Degree program:<\/strong> M.A.M.A<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Year accepted:<\/strong> 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advisor:<\/strong> TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Research:<\/strong> Ecosystem Conservation, Marine Protected Area Governance, Coastal Resilience, Marine Spatial Planning<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Background:<\/strong> B.S. Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Profile:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Natalie is an M.A. student in Marine Affairs interested in ecosystem conservation, marine protected area governance, and coastal resilience. Originally from North Carolina, she developed a passion for the ocean and a strong commitment to environmental stewardship from an early age when she began to witness changes and declines affecting the coastal habitats she grew up loving. These early experiences inspired her to pursue marine science, environmental education, and ultimately Marine Affairs, with the goal of translating scientific knowledge into conservation action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Natalie earned her B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), where she worked with Dr. Nicole Fogarty and Dr. Blake Ushijima as a student researcher studying coral spawning, probiotics, and coral resilience, presenting her findings at the 50th Annual Benthic Ecology Meeting in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before beginning graduate school, she worked as a research analyst in a coral husbandry laboratory at UNCW and in biotechnology at Moderna. She also served as a fellow for the Marine Science and Technology team at Seaside Sustainability, where she led initiatives addressing marine pollution while managing teams of interns and collaborating with community stakeholders. These experiences shaped her interdisciplinary approach to marine conservation and her ability to integrate scientific research with environmental policy and regulatory processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At URI, Natalie\u2019s research interests focus on the intersection of marine science and policy which includes marine spatial planning and compliance. She is interested in how marine protected areas and other ocean governance frameworks can be tools to incorporate science-based strategies to protect ecosystems from disease, human activities, and environmental stressors. At URI, she is sharpening her skills in marine law, policy analysis, resource economics, and MPA management as she works towards her goal of joining NOAA, the EPA, or affiliates such as Sea Grant, as a consultant or marine resource specialist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Degree program: M.A.M.A Year accepted: 2026 Advisor: TBD Research: Ecosystem Conservation, Marine Protected Area Governance, Coastal Resilience, Marine Spatial Planning Background: B.S. Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington Profile: Natalie is an M.A. student in Marine Affairs interested in ecosystem conservation, marine protected area governance, and coastal resilience. Originally from North Carolina, she developed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":809,"featured_media":13375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[233,238],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-graduate-students","category-ma"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13360,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13358\/revisions\/13360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/maf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}