URI grads chosen for NOAA marine policy fellowship

URI GRADUATE John Ryan-Henry, an East Providence native now living in Westport, Mass., who received a master's degree in marine affairs and a law degree from Roger Williams University, has been named a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. He will spend a year working on ocean and coastal policy issues in Washington, D.C., serving as a coastal policy fellow for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coastal States Organization on projects related to water resources and coastal resilience and adaptation. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
URI GRADUATE John Ryan-Henry, an East Providence native now living in Westport, Mass., who received a master's degree in marine affairs and a law degree from Roger Williams University, has been named a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. He will spend a year working on ocean and coastal policy issues in Washington, D.C., serving as a coastal policy fellow for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coastal States Organization on projects related to water resources and coastal resilience and adaptation. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Starting Feb. 1, two University of Rhode Island graduates who received master’s degrees in marine affairs will spend a year working on ocean and coastal policy issues in Washington, D.C.
Emily Patrolia of Wenham, Mass., and John Ryan-Henry, an East Providence native now living in Westport, Mass., have been named John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellows; they are among 57 students from across the country selected for the $56,500 fellowship.
They applied through Rhode Island Sea Grant, which nominates candidates for consideration by the National Sea Grant College Program.
Patrolia will serve as a marine science adviser to the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, preparing briefings for committee members, recruiting witnesses to give testimony and helping to write bill language and reports.
She said she has wanted to be a Knauss Fellow since she first heard about the program, a desire echoed by Ryan-Henry.
“I’ve gotten to know the small community of marine policy people, and everyone’s advice was to become a Knauss Fellow. It’s a great stepping stone to a career in marine policy. So it was always the first thing on my agenda,” Patrolia said.
Following her fellowship, her goal is to work for the federal government in a marine policy role.
Ryan-Henry just completed the URI/Roger Williams University dual degree program in marine law and policy, earning a law degree from Roger Williams and a master’s degree in marine affairs from URI.
He called becoming a Knauss Fellow “an excellent gateway into ocean and coastal management in the federal government system. It puts me on the ground with people in the federal system who are taking active steps to address climate change and coastal resilience, which is hard to do right out of school.”
For his Knauss Fellowship, Ryan-Henry will serve as a coastal policy fellow for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coastal States Organization on projects related to water resources and coastal resilience and adaptation.
Ryan-Henry said he will likely pursue a career in government, “wherever I’m useful … working with people who are on the ground building strategies and implementing solutions to the problems of coastal adaptation.”
Established in 1979, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship matches qualified graduate students interested in national policy decisions affecting ocean and coastal resources with hosts in the federal legislative or executive branches of government.

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