“EPSCoR provided funding for my research, as well as a portion of travel support to an international oceanographic conference. And, my outreach activities as an EPSCoR fellow allowed me to work on communicating my science, and provided some useful tools for telling my scientific story. Interaction with other EPSCoR fellows provided a great support network in which we could practice different techniques for communicating our work, and exploring its broader implications.”

Kerry Whittaker

 

Ordinarily, the successful defense of a thesis might mean an opportunity to slow down and celebrate.

Not for Kerry Whittaker, University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Ph.D. candidate and Rhode Island NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) fellow.

One moment she masterfully presented her thesis — exploring the global distribution of genetic diversity in the marine diatom Thalassiosira rotula to better understand the intersection between diatom evolution and the marine environment — to a packed audience in the auditorium of the Bay Campus’ Coastal Institute Building.

Within days, Whittaker packed up her Rhode Island life and moved down to Washington, DC, for her yearlong Knauss Fellowship.

“I’m settling in,” she reported in a quick Feb. 6 email. “But, it’s been a pretty momentous 10 days!”

The 28-year old from Bridgewater, Mass., will spend the next year in the National Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program, which pairs highly qualified graduate students with hosts in branches of the federal government or associated organizations to work on substantive national policy issues related to aquatic resources.

The recipients are designated Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellows, after URI’s legendary Dean of the Graduate School of Oceanography.

Whittaker will spend her fellowship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service, in the Office of Protected Resources.

“I knew that once I defended by thesis, I really wanted to get another perspective on how science filters into policy-making, and how these really important political decisions that affect our natural resources are being made,” Whittaker said, explaining her current path.

Only weeks into the Washington, DC, experience, she said the fellowship offered a close-up and unique perspective of how these critical decisions are made.

All things biological

A dual major at Colby College (Waterville, Maine), Whittaker graduated in 2008 with bachelor degrees in English and Environmental Science. She traced her interest in science to a young age, having enjoyed a childhood of spending summers at the beach, hiking and camping.

“I always loved nature,” she said. “When I was going into my undergraduate studies, I knew I wanted to do something science-related. I always loved science, the ability to ask questions that are pretty formulated, and which always leads to interesting answers or more questions.”

As an undergrad, Whittaker gained some experience studying the paleoecology of ancient pine trees. But, a semester abroad in Mexico, studying sea turtles and coastal conservation, hooked her into oceanography and the marine science field.

At the same time, she was drawn to environmental literature in her English classes: “There’s a strong focus on the ocean as a literary concept as well. The ocean is really poetic in certain ways.”

For graduate school, Whittaker narrowed her interests to study diatoms and the role they play in the ocean’s biogeochemistry, or the cycles of chemical elements such as carbon and nitrogen and the interaction with marine life.

Diatoms, a major group of algae and the most common type of microscopic organism known as phytoplankton, serve a significant ecological role. During photosynthesis, the tiny, single-celled plants that cover the ocean’s surface turn carbon dioxide into organic carbon, generating oxygen.

Whittaker said she was particularly interested in the diversity of diatoms, and how that diversity factors into survival — the more diversity, the greater the ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Diatoms are found throughout the globe, and Whittaker has located the same species distributed literally from one end of the earth to the other, from the poles to the tropics. Her work has focused on exploring the diversity within the species and mapping their distribution, using a global understanding of how the diversity is structured and the environmental factors that contribute to the diversity.

Yet, several key questions remain, said Whittaker: “We don’t really know how the diversity within the species is structured throughout the ocean or what factors of the ocean support that diversity, or how it contributes over time to the evolution process.”

A new perspective

Taking leave from behind the microscope, Whittaker now is tackling science from the opposite end. She and her peers in the Knauss Fellowship program have been dispersed throughout the policy-making machinery of the nation’s capital, working with members of Congress and various federal agencies and departments.

Although the projects vary, from NOAA to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, they all fall under the main umbrella of marine science policy and work to improve both the communication and connection between science and policy.

“I’m really interested in seeing that exchange from the front lines,” said Whittaker, who is working on the listing of endangered marine species and designating critical habitats.

She also said she was excited to see where the opportunity takes her, whether she decides to head full force down the policy path, pursue a career in academia, or seek a completely different path.

“Wherever I go, this perspective is so incredibly valuable and unique,” Whittaker said. “If I really like it, I’m hoping for the option to stay and continue to do policy, see what kind of doors open.”

By Amy Dunkle | from the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of The Current