Despite the COVID-19 disruption, 10 SMEA students took part in presenting their Capstone Project to the broader SMEA community and their clients via Zoom in mid-March, while 14 students delivered Thesis Presentations in early May or early June. Students were able to share their findings and learning with family, alumni, faculty, staff, and fellow students, gather feedback from those listening in, and had the opportunity to incorporate these takeaways in their final edition.

SMEA faculty developed the Capstone Track about 4 years ago. According to Dr. Dave Fluharty, who serves as the Capstone Coordinator, it provides students with an applied, team project alternative to the thesis or courses-only options. As the Capstone Coordinator, Fluharty receives proposals from capstone clients, who have a need for assistance on a specific project where students can hone their skills for policy development, synthesize action plans based on current research, and/or utilize various research methods to collect needed data. It is students who decide which projects they will take on.

From there, SMEA faculty serve as advisors to Capstone teams, mentoring students in project design and management, data collection and analysis and using their own professional networks to connect students to individuals or organizations that may be doing similar or related work. For example, newly minted Professor of Practice, Dr. Phil Levin has been guiding a team of three rising second-year students on a project around re-opening of areas once closed to commercial fishing due to the depletion of the rockfish population. As he comments, “This project could go in a million directions, so the first challenge has been to focus the project on a topic that is discrete, doable, and highly relevant for the client.” Next year, the capstone team of Patrick Dodd, Christina Madonia, and Marissa Paulling will deliver their findings.  “NOAA is very interested to understand how fishers will use the newly opened fishing grounds; what species will be targeted; and the ecosystem consequences of opening up this region to fishing.  This work will feed directly to NOAA fishery managers”, added Levin.

Students opted into four different Capstone Projects this year, working alongside each other to deliver valuable context and content for their client (one project was stewarded by a single student, while others had a team of students). The completed capstones for 2019-20 were:

As a long-standing academic track in SMEA, Thesis students were prepared to deliver their presentations, collect feedback, and make final edits before submitting their work prior to graduation.

However, COVID-19 and the subsequent quarantine coupled with social distancing meant that some methodologies had to shift very last minute. Some students scrambled to adapt, and completed data analysis from home, all while keeping their advisors and committee members in the loop. To this end, later dates for presentations were added in June, allowing students to present and continue with their graduation plans.

Recent SMEA graduate, Abby Jahn ’20, remarked that “working from home or school, in a pandemic or not, a thesis is a demanding process”. For her it was important to schedule in time for breaks, to remain civically engaged, and to maintain strong communication with her thesis committee. As she embarks on her position in Alaska with NOAA Fisheries, Abby added that while her thesis was not directly related to her professional work, “for writing, editing, and time management the thesis experience conditioned me for any future career”.

While not what anyone had envisioned for the end of the 2019-20 academic year, SMEA students remained resilient and focused on completing their work. The outcome is a tremendous body of work that helps to advance the field of Marine Affairs, with wide-ranging topics and interest areas. To see the full slate of this year’s presentations, take a look at the table below: