This issue of the Alumni Focus shines on Jenny Waddell, the Research Coordinator for Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS). Jenny’s career is representative of the many SMEA graduates who have been selected for the prestigious Knauss Fellowship (a national award administered locally by Washington Sea Grant – and the application process just opened).

Jenny graduated from SMEA in 2001 with a thesis on sustainable tourism development for Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras. She then joined NOAA as a Knauss Fellow where she was employed in various capacities until she returned to the West Coast in 2016 to assume her present position at OCNMS. At OCNMS she oversees ecological research, seafloor mapping efforts, and assessment and monitoring programs for the sanctuary. Jenny collaborates with a variety of partners to implement OCNMS science programs, including staff from across NOAA and at other Federal agencies, State of Washington agency personnel, and tribal governments representing the four Coastal Treaty Tribes that have reserved treaty rights in the area.

Jenny has been in the news recently as a reliable “go-to” source information on the scientific research being performed in OCNMS waters on marine heatwaves, hypoxia and other phenomena affecting marine species – especially the highly vulnerable and valuable (delicious too) Dungeness crab. Did you know, for example, that the 1875 shipwreck of Pacific was finally located last week? Or that the remnants of a monster shooting star were hunted down in 2018? Jenny is on top of all of these scientific endeavors.

What does Jenny advise SMEA job seekers? “Reach out to people who are in positions of interest to you and ask them about opportunities or internship programs. Be patient and persistent and keep working towards your goals. Over time…all that effort adds up!”

Interesting fact. Jenny is the artist who designed the SMEA logo we still use more than 20 years later (see below, as well as the SMEA website home page!).

Look for future items about George Galasso Deputy Superintendent who retired from OCNMS last month and about the current Superintendent Kevin Grant – both SMEA graduates.