FELLOW NEWSNews for and about the NOAA Fel lows

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In This IssueFocus on Fellows

Sean Duffey

Vidya Balasubramanyam

News on Former Fellows

Sarah Latshaw

Upcoming Conferences

and Events

Focus on FellowsSean Duffey

Massachusetts fellow Sean Duffey grew up

in Watervliet, New York, a small town outside of

Albany. His interest in the environment and coastal

issues began early, during family vacations to Cape

Cod. While there, his favorite activities included

swimming and snorkeling along the jetties that lined

the beaches, and collecting fish and crustaceans that

were living among the rocks. However, his curiosity

didn’t stop with the sea life—he also began to

question why the jetties were there, and what function they were serving.

These childhood vacations inspired Sean to pursue an undergraduate degree

in marine biology and a Master’s in oceanography at the University of Rhode

Island. In the process, he was introduced to marine and coastal environmental

principles and developed an interest in coastal ecology. Sean learned about the

coastal management fellowship from the Rhode Island Sea Grant program, and

decided it was the perfect next step after completing his degree.

Sean is working with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management

to develop a vulnerability assessment for the Sandy Neck Barrier Beach

System Area of Critical Environmental Concern—a state-designated coastal

environmental area on Cape Cod. He is gathering data and information, soliciting

information from local stakeholders and state agencies, and collecting field data

to inform the assessment of the threats and stressors that are either currently

impacting coastal habitats, or could in the future, due to climate change. The

project focuses on building resilience for the specific purpose of preserving

ecosystem resources and services.

“I find this work extremely gratifying, because I get to focus on an assessment

specific to the ecological function of a coastal area, with the ultimate goal of

assisting interested stakeholders in building the resiliency of this truly beautiful

and important area,” Sean says. “I have been surprised by the difficulty to

develop a truly holistic assessment of threats and stressors to coastal habitats,

and link that assessment to specific management, policy, and restoration goals

and actions.” Many assessments focus on either specific potential stressors or

specific goals, he points out, but few try to incorporate an exhaustive list of

Continued on Next Page

CLASS OF

2017–2019

Focus on Fellows: Duffey (Continued)

NOAA Of f i ce fo r Coasta l Management J a n u a r y 2 0 1 9 • I s s u e 8 0

report on an assessment of tidal

crossings that are located within

the watersheds impacting the area.

This report will help town officials

and restoration practitioners with

restoration efforts at the assessed

study sites.

Sean says that the fellowship

program has provided him with the

opportunity to truly experience what

the profession of coastal management

is like at the state level. He has

gained skills that he believes will be

extremely valuable as he continues his

career in this field. He is also grateful

for the tremendous professional

network he has built, both through

the fellowship program and in the

state of Massachusetts.

When Sean is not at work, he

enjoys going to the beach, kayaking,

hiking, and running. He also never

passes up an opportunity to play

recreational sports, such as baseball,

basketball, and football.

After the fellowship, Sean hopes

to stay in New England and continue

building coastal resiliency, with a

focus on the sustainability of the

coastal habitats there.

potential impacts into a vulnerability

assessment. He hopes to fill this gap.

In addition to this project-related

challenge, Sean also faced the personal

challenge of rupturing his Achilles

tendon while playing basketball

at the beginning of the field work

season. This led to adjustments to

the field work component of his

project, but thanks to the flexibility

and contributions of his colleagues,

the team was able to work around

Sean’s injury and complete the work

necessary for the project to continue.

As a final product, Sean

will develop an ESRI story map

documenting the coastal habitats—

and the threats they face—at the

study area. He will also complete a

report providing recommendations

and action steps for stakeholders

to use to improve the resiliency of

the Area of Critical Environmental

Concern. These products will be used

to teach the public about the area, and

will provide guidance to stakeholders

to improve the sustainability and

resiliency of coastal habitats in the

future. An additional product, which

was not initially planned, will be a

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Focus on FellowsVidya Balasubramanyam

New Hampshire fellow Vidya

Balasubramanyam grew up in

Bangalore, India—which is decidedly

not a coastal city. So her initial interest

in a coastal career came from an

unlikely source: a leaky water tank

in her childhood home. Vidya would

spend entire afternoons sitting with

a bucket, trying to capture every

drop of precious drinking water that

was getting wasted. At the time,

she imagined herself as a plumber,

conserving the limited fresh water by

plugging leaky pipes.

As Vidya learned more about

the environment, she realized that

she could have a greater systemic

impact if she worked on bigger picture

environmental issues. When the 2006

tsunami struck the southeast coast of

India, Vidya was exposed to even larger

concepts, like coastal hazards and

shoreline vulnerability. She remembers

being terrified of the ocean, yet also

inspired to do her part to help protect

coastlines around the world.

Sean (in the blue shirt) and other Massachusetts Coastal Program staff identifying salt marsh plant cover

J a n u a r y 2 0 1 9 • I s s u e 8 0NOAA Of f i ce fo r Coasta l Management

Focus on Fellows: Balasubramanyam (Continued)

After pursuing a Bachelor of

Science degree in environmental

science, chemistry, and botany from

St. Joseph’s College in Bangalore,

India, Vidya traveled to the U.S. to

earn her Master of Science degree in

natural resources and a certificate in

geographic information sciences from

the University of Missouri. While

earning her Master’s degree, Vidya

interned with the city of Portsmouth,

New Hampshire, where she helped

conduct a sea level rise vulnerability

assessment for Portsmouth’s historic

buildings. During the internship,

she attended a meeting of the New

Hampshire Coastal Adaptation

Workgroup, and met both a current

and former NOAA coastal fellow.

“I was so inspired by the work that

they did, which ranged from high-

level projects to site specific analyses,

combined with creative approaches

that centered around the needs of

local communities,” Vidya says, “and

I decided that I wanted to be one of

them when I graduated.”

Vidya’s fellowship is with the

New Hampshire Department of

Environmental Services Coastal

Program. There, she is developing

a geospatial model that documents

biophysical and sociopolitical

conditions of the shoreline, along with

a living shoreline site suitability index

to indicate the potential of siting soft

shoreline stabilization approaches.

She is also working on a technical

assistance and outreach strategy

targeted at local decision makers and

property owners to pilot nature-based

shoreline management strategies.

The model will be used as one of the

tools to evaluate permit applications

and for having conversations with

permit applicants about alternatives

to hardening. Consultants will use the

model to discuss options with property

owners for their eroding shorelines.

Others plan to use this model to decide

where to allocate resources for soft

shoreline stabilization.

While doing this work, Vidya

has worked closely with the New

Hampshire Coastal Adaptation

Workgroup, which leverages

partnerships to progress coastal

adaptation in the state. Vidya has

learned the importance of putting

the needs of end users first, and to

creatively engage all partners from

the very start of a project. Vidya has

also had a chance to become extremely

familiar with New Hampshire’s coastal

habitats by assisting with a variety

of community science projects in the

field, including king tide photography,

dune planting, marsh restoration, and

tracking glass eel migration.

Vidya has taken full advantage of

the many networking and professional

development opportunities throughout

her fellowship. In addition to

conferences like Social Coast Forum,

Local Solutions, and Restore America’s

Estuaries, Vidya was invited to

participate in several initiatives. She

participated in the Yale Sustainability

Leadership Forum, where she met

sustainability leaders from around the

world who are tackling climate change.

She was also invited by the National

Science Foundation to help set research

priorities for their new “Coastlines

and People” initiative, by presenting

ideas for broadening participation in

coastline science and explaining living

shoreline science needs from a state

government perspective. She was also invited

to a Story Collider’s workshop, where coastal

and ocean professionals from around the

Northeast were trained to share unique stories

about the ocean. Story Colliders has asked

participants, including Vidya, to share their

stories at live events in northeastern cities.

When not at work, Vidya practically lives

in the local library, where she participates in

community forums on various issues. She’s

an avid reader, but says that her favorite thing

about her library visits is pulling up a bean

bag chair or making a cozy little pillow fort

to watch the movies and documentaries they

screen in the evenings. She also loves to make

the quick trip to Boston and New York City,

where she can explore and enjoy delicious

vegan food from around the world.

After her fellowship, Vidya would love to

stay in the New Hampshire or Boston area

(but is also open to exploring the Great Lakes

or the Pacific Coast) to continue working on

nature-based shoreline protection projects,

while also dabbling in coastal resiliency

planning at the local community level.

“My fellowship was a slam dunk,” she says,

“because I’ve been able to work on topics that

I’m passionate about in the geographical area

that I have enjoyed living in.” It’s a mutual

win-win.

Vidya measuring beach elevation at Jenness Beach State Park in Rye, New Hampshire

NOAA Of f i ce fo r Coasta l Management J a n u a r y 2 0 1 9 • I s s u e 8 0

During her participation in the

fellowship program from 2011 to 2013,

former fellow Sarah Latshaw worked

with the South Carolina Department

of Health and Environmental Control

Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource

Management on a project to assess

community exposure and susceptibility

to losses from storm surge and erosion.

To achieve this, Sarah helped

develop a beachfront vulnerability index

for the state of South Carolina. The

index estimated vulnerability by

combining data on elevation, long-

term erosion, amount of dunes, wave

height, tidal range, and distance of a

home from the Office of Ocean and

Coastal Resource Management’s lines of

jurisdiction. These data were ranked and

analyzed to establish a vulnerability score

for each parcel along the South Carolina

beachfront. Her work proved valuable;

shortly before her fellowship ended, the

Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource

Management hired Sarah as a coastal

projects manager to help the state with

coastal hazard mitigation, marine debris

issues, and outreach and education.

“As a product of the ‘Don’t Mess with

Texas’ anti-litter campaign, I have been

picking up litter and implementing the

three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) for as

long as I can remember,” Sarah says. She

was thrilled to be able to incorporate this

inherent personal passion into her career,

and to have the opportunity to oversee

the state’s adopt-a-beach program,

coordinate on abandoned and derelict

vessel issues, and lead the Charleston,

South Carolina office’s Green Team.

While in this position, Sarah learned

about abandoned and derelict vessel

issues in the state—how many vessels

were stranded or sinking in coastal

waters, the legal and jurisdictional

barriers, the social impacts of when

a vessel is someone’s home, the high

removal and salvaging costs, the lack of

funding available, and the lack of clear

authority. The barriers and bureaucracy

often lead to these vessels deteriorating,

month after month, without being

addressed. Finding a solution has

become a growing passion of Sarah’s.

A few years into that role, Sarah

participated in a workshop hosted by the

NOAA Marine Debris Program, and was

inspired by the activities they were doing

nationwide. When a position for the

program’s Southeast regional coordinator

became available, Sarah went for it. For

over four years now, she has worked in

that role with partners in Georgia, South

Carolina, and North Carolina to assess

existing and emerging issues related

to marine debris, implement removal

and prevention projects, and foster

collaboration across the region.

In this role, Sarah has participated

in abandoned and derelict vessel

working groups in South Carolina and

North Carolina; assisted with removal

operations at the Incident Command

Post after Hurricane Irma; reviewed and

provided comments for the Government

Accountability Office Report on Federal

and State Action, Expenditures, and

Challenges to Addressing Abandoned

and Derelict Vessels; and connected with

others dealing with chronic and acute

abandoned and derelict vessel issues. She

also recently had the honor of participating

in a roundtable discussion with the U.S.

Department of Commerce Secretary

Wilbur Ross to highlight NOAA Marine

Debris Program efforts.

Another passion of Sarah’s has been

participating in the Office of Response

and Restoration’s Diversity and Inclusion

Committee. The committee strives to provide

a diverse workforce and inclusive workplace

within the office. They offer monthly events

and a safe space to talk about sensitive topics,

such as sexual harassment, bullying, LBGT

communities, environmental justice, and

religious differences. She received the 2017

National Ocean Service Team Member of the

Month award for her work on the committee.

In the end, Sarah says, “my fellowship

helped launch my career. I was able to

continue to adapt the skills I’d learned in

graduate school, learn about state coastal zone

programs, gauge if public service was right for

me, and meet many people—some of whom

helped shape my career, and many who I now

work with in my role with NOAA.” In short,

the opportunity was invaluable.

News on Former Fellows: Sarah Latshaw

Sarah (4th from left) had the opportunity to highlight the NOAA Marine Debris Program as an invited speaker during U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ visit to Charleston, South Carolina

J a n u a r y 2 0 1 9 • I s s u e 8 0NOAA Of f i ce fo r Coasta l Management

Six projects have been selected for the 2019 to 2021 Coastal Management Fellowship. Below is a summary of each of these

projects. Recruiting efforts for fellowship applicants are well underway, but we need your help to spread the word to eligible

applicants. Please remember that applications should be submitted to area Sea Grant directors, and are due on January 18, 2019.

Host Agency: Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program

Location: Two Harbors, Minnesota

Project Goal: Provide data, tools, and resources to area practitioners and land owners tackling Lake Superior erosion

in Minnesota.

Host Agency: New Hampshire Coastal Program

Location: Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Project Goal: Advance alternative funding mechanisms to support on-the-ground adaptation and resilience in coastal New

Hampshire communities.

Host Agency: New Jersey Coastal Management Program

Location: Trenton, New Jersey

Project Goal: Identify measures or frameworks for evaluating community resilience, develop a method for equitable community

resilience planning, and suggest integration of these findings with state initiatives in New Jersey.

Host Agency: New York State Coastal Management Program

Location: Albany, New York

Project Goal: Develop a scenario planning tool (potentially utilizing virtual reality or augmented reality) that will support

three goals: community and regional resilience planning, local waterfront revitalization planning, and improved federal

consistency review.

Host Agency: Oregon Coastal Management Program

Location: Portland, Oregon

Project Goal: Improve the availability of public access information both for planning efforts and to encourage public enjoyment

of and appreciation for the Oregon coast.

Host Agency: Wisconsin Coastal Management Program

Location: Madison, Wisconsin

Project Goal: Apply geospatial technologies and resources developed by Wisconsin program partners, NOAA Digital Coast,

and others to Great Lakes coastal hazard issues, culminating with a self-guided project to develop a multi-hazard vulnerability

viewer.

For more information on the 2019 state projects, please visit the fellowship website at coast.noaa.gov/fellowship/stateprojects.html or contact the fellowship coordinator at ocm.fellowships@noaa.gov.

Focus on the Coastal Fellowship: 2019 State Projects Selected

NOAA Office for Coastal Management 2234 South Hobson Avenue

Charleston, SC 29405-2413

Upcoming Conferences and Events

FEBRUARY APRIL11 to 14: Coastal GeoTools 23 to 25: National Adaptation Charleston, South Carolina Forumcoastalgeotools.org Madison, Wisconsin 19 to 21: nationaladaptationforum.org 24th Annual Wetland Science ConferenceMiddleton, Wisconsin MAYconference.wisconsinwetlands.org 19 to 23: Association of State

Floodplain Managers 43rd Annual

MARCH National Conference Cleveland, Ohio 2 to 6: National Association of asfpmconference.org/2019Counties Legislative Conference

Washington, D.C. naco.org/events/2019-naco-legislative- JULYconference 12 to 15: 2019 National Association 4 to 7: American Planning Association’s of Counties Annual Conference National Planning Conference Las Vegas, Nevada San Francisco, California naco.org/events/nacos-84th-annual-planning.org/conference conference-exposition

NOAA Office for Coastal Management TrainingJANUARY MARCH14 to 15: Planning Effective Projects 14: Social Science Basics for Coastal Communities Greenland, New HampshireTillamook, Oregon 27 Social Science Basics 15: Social Science Basics Wells, MaineBeaufort, North Carolina

MAYFEBRUARY 20: OpenNSPECT 6 to 7: Planning Effective Projects Onlinefor Coastal Communities Dover, Delaware

20 to 21: Managing Visitor Use Port St. Lucie, Florida

20: OpenNSPECT Online

For more information on virtual and site-specific trainings, visit coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/training/home.html

Credits and InformationFellow News is published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management to relay information about the

fellowship program and provide a forum for information exchange among fellows, mentors, Sea Grant, and the office.

Please send your questions and suggestions for future editions to ocm.fellowships@noaa.gov

Editor: Margaret Allen | Communications Director: Donna McCaskill | Copy Editor: Gerald Esch | Graphic Designer: Daniella Fishburne

coast.noaa.gov/fellowship/news