Read about current Graduate Scholars on the Oregon Sea Grant website and Learn about recent scholars on the Oregon SEa Grant Scholars page.

Meet the Oregon Sea Grant 2019 Summer Scholars

Erika Alvarado

Erika will be working the Wild Rivers Coastal Alliance to create short educational courses about the six marine reserves in Oregon, and an additional course about the ecology of the marine reserves in general. These courses will be used by all different types of people in varying demographics, for the purpose of gaining knowledge about the marine reserves. These courses will have an impact on the tourism industry and will be very community-oriented.

Erika recently graduated with a bachelor’s in science from the University of Idaho. Her degree is in ecology and conservation biology. For the next leg of her educational journey she will be obtaining her master’s degree at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa. Her project will involve studying macroalgal systematics in the mesophotic zone of the ocean.

Erika’s professional interest is to work in education, possibly at the community college level. She would like to teach classes about marine biology and ecology in a way that is meaningful and accessible.  Erika is interested in studying ecology and macroalgae. It would be her dream to teach others about the natural world in a unconventional multi-disciplinary way.

Honour Booth

This summer, Honour is excited to contribute to the development of a Social Media Outreach Plan and Protocol with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program in Cannon Beach. She is especially eager to learn how tourism can be a positive influence on the environment and how social media can be used as a tool towards that positive influence.

Honour recently graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a B.S. in Global Environmental Science and a B.A. in Chemistry. In the fall she will begin pursuing a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning, also at UH Mānoa.

Growing up a mile mauka (towards the mountains) from the iconic Waikīkī Beach, Honour has witnessed the environmental and economic impacts of the tourism industry on her home. Although climate change presents many challenges that will exacerbate those impacts, she sees these challenges as a reason to improve the urban landscape of Oʻahu. As sea level rise and sporadic flooding from rain have been identified as major challenges from climate change, Honour is interested in developing long-term land use planning that involve restoration of coastal areas, such as that of Waikīkī, and a carbon offset industry to supplement tourism in Hawaiʻi.

Suhn Brown

As a 2019 Summer Scholar, Suhn will be working with the Oregon Coastal Management Program in Newport, OR to exhibit and promote awareness of the impact that climate change has had on the Oregon coast through public outreach via the Oregon King Tides Photography Project.

Suhn just finished his junior year at Whitman College, where he is studying Biology.  He is interested in studying the life-history traits of colossal squids in the Southern Ocean. He is also interested in marine life conservation.

Ariana de Souza

Ariana will be working as a 2019 Summer Scholar with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Newport, Oregon to quantify the impact of anthropogenic inputs on water quality in Tillamook Estuary.

Ariana has just completed her junior year at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is majoring in Biology. She has been working in the Paul Barber Lab at UCLA since 2018, conducting research on gut microbiomes of fish in the South Pacific to gain better insight into their trophic interactions. She is interested in evolution and ecological interactions within biological systems and the effects that humans can have on these processes.

Autumn Herrington

As a 2019 Summer Scholar, Autumn will be working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Newport, OR to quantify the land-based input of carbon to Pacific Northwest estuaries and the role of macrophytes in sequestering carbon and moderating acidification.

Autumn just finished her sophomore year at the University of Idaho, where she is studying Wildlife Resources with a minor in Geographic Information Systems. She is also a Doris Duke Conservation Scholar.

Autumn is interested in studying the effects of climate change on coastal mammals and birds. She also hopes to use Geographic Information Systems as a research tool.

Naomi Scott

As a 2019 Summer Scholar, Naomi will be working with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Newport, Oregon to examine the habitat use of shellfish aquaculture by fish and invertebrates.

Naomi just completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Environmental Science from the University of Tampa. She plans to go to graduate school in the future to receive her doctorate in Marine Biology.

Naomi is interested in the behavior and physiology of sharks and other cartilaginous fish. She is also interested in the impact that human behavior and consumption has on marine life.

Hannah Sinclair

As a 2019 Summer Scholar, Hannah will be working with the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Charleston, OR to create a digital media library for science education and outreach.

Hannah just finished her junior year at CUNY Medgar Evers College, where she is studying Biology with a minor in Special Education. Over the last few years she has worked for WCS New York Aquarium teaching marine education and conducting visitor data research on the acknowledgement of local species in New York.

Hannah is interested in examining the health and conditions of horseshoe crabs that are accumulated in zoos and aquariums.

Melissa Wood

As a 2019 Summer Scholar, Melissa will be working with The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife through the Shellfish and Estuarine Assessment of Coastal Oregon (SEACOR) Shellfish program. As part of the SEACOR program, Melissa will work collaboratively on a team to collect shellfish and estuary habitat data in various intertidal regions of Coos Bay, OR.

Melissa recently graduated from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin with degrees in Biology and Chemistry. Melissa obtained funding for marine research at her university, completing a two year research project, and has presented at multiple conferences. She has traveled to Honduras twice for marine chemistry field research and has been involved in undergraduate marine research for several years.

Melissa has spent much of her undergraduate research working with nanoparticles to understand the impact on marine water chemistry and coral reefs, using analytical chemistry techniques. She is interested in incorporating both marine biology and chemistry to study the decline of coral reefs while contributing to preservation efforts.

Dominique Zuk

As a 2019 Summer Scholar, Dominique will be working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to ecologically monitor the Oregon Marine Reserves via fish recruitment, urchin recruitment, sea star, and mussel bed surveys.

Dominique just finished her junior year at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She spent spring of 2019 conducting field research on fish herbivory behavior, macroalgae distribution, and continuous and patch reef systems at the UC Berkeley Gump Station in Mo’orea, French Polynesia.

Dominique is interested in studying aquatic veterinary medicine, as well as the control and prevention of aquatic animal diseases. She is also interested in marine conservation, and using policy development and outreach as a platform to preserve coastal communities.