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content/news/2024-global-fellows.md

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 title: "2024 OHI Global Fellows"
 name: "Introducing the 2024 OHI Global Fellows"
 bg_image: "/images/banners/disturbed-fish.jpg"
-card_image: "/images/people/fellows_2023.jpg"
-preview_text: "In 2024, the Ocean Health Index Global Fellows program has welcomed three fresh Data Science and Communication Fellows to its ranks. The selected trio all hail from the newly instituted Masters of Environmental Data Science..."
-Date: 2024-07-25
-author: Carlo Broderick, Adelaide Robinson, Erika Egg
+card_image: "/images/people/fellows_2024.jpg"
+preview_text: "In 2024, the Ocean Health Index Global Fellows program has welcomed three fresh Data Science and Communication Fellows to its ranks. The selected trio all hail from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management..."
+Date: 2024-07-31
+author: Anna Ramji, Dustin Duncan, Sophia Lecuona Manos
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   main:
     parent: 'News'
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ menu:
 
 {{<newsHead>}}
 
-In 2024, the Ocean Health Index Global Fellows program has welcomed three fresh Data Science and Communication Fellows to its ranks. The selected trio all hail from the newly instituted Masters of Environmental Data Science ([MEDS](https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-data-science)) program. This course is a collaborative effort between the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis ([NCEAS](https://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/)).
+In 2024, the Ocean Health Index Global Fellows program has welcomed three fresh Data Science and Communication Fellows to its ranks. The selected trio all hail from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, with one Master of Environmental Data Science ([MEDS](https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-data-science)) alumna and two current Master of Environmental Science and Management [(MESM)](https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-science-and-management) students. This course is a collaborative effort between the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis ([NCEAS](https://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/)).
 
-In this blogpost, we ask the incoming fellows questions to better understand their motivations while getting to know them. 
+In this blog post, we ask the incoming fellows questions to better understand their motivations while getting to know them. 
 
 <center>
 
-<img src="/images/people/fellows_2023.jpg" style="width: 70%; height: 70%"/>
+<img src="/images/people/fellows_2024.jpg" style="width: 80%; height: 80%"/>
 
 </center>
 
@@ -33,58 +33,66 @@ In this blogpost, we ask the incoming fellows questions to better understand the
 
 <br>
 
-**Adelaide:** 
-I was born in Santa Cruz, but grew up in Kelseyville, a small town in Northern California. Since graduating from undergrad at UC Davis, I’ve explored and lived in many places along the West Coast working as a biological field technician.
+**Anna:** 
+I grew up in the Bay Area and have lived there for most of my life! I moved to Santa Barbara in 2023 for the Bren School’s Master of Environmental Data Science ([MEDS](https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-data-science)) program. 
 
-**Erika:** 
-I’ve lived on the Central Coast my whole life! After graduating high school, I attended UCSB for my undergraduate education and my Master’s.
+**Dustin:** 
+I grew up in an unincorporated community of El Cajon, California. Our catch phrase growing up was ‘Ten minutes away from being ten minutes away.’ Now having been in Santa Barbara since 2018, I’m just ten minutes away!  
+
+**Sophia:** 
+I grew up in Los Angeles, and moved to Santa Barbara for my undergraduate degree in Aquatic Biology at UCSB. I worked locally for a year, then started my Master’s in Environmental Science and Management at the Bren School.  I love SB so much, I never want to leave!
 
-**Carlo:** 
-I grew up in the central valley town of Modesto, California. Modesto's motto is "Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health." I moved to Santa Cruz for college and lived and worked there for 7 years before moving to Santa Barbara to work at the university and then go to school for my graduate degree. 
 
 ## Question 2
 
 > What are some of your interests, personally and professionally?
 
 <br>
 
-**Adelaide:**
-I’m passionate about the environment and wildlife, both in my personal life and career. I spend my free time birding, hiking, and caring for my growing pet family. Professionally I’m interested in utilizing data science to improve conservation efforts in fisheries and aquatic ecology.
+**Anna:** 
+Personally, I’m interested in tidepooling, identifying lichen, playing guitar and ukulele, cooking, gardening, reading, stand-up comedy, playing video and board games, and teaching myself random fun facts. Professionally, I am interested in using data visualization as a powerful tool for disseminating knowledge to and communicating with a wide range of audiences. I am grateful that I genuinely enjoy all of the data processing that needs to be done upstream in order to make those visualizations. Data wrangling and analysis problems feel like puzzles and I find it rewarding to work through different bugs and issues to get to solve those puzzles! I am also interested in a wide range of topics, including marine ecosystems, climate tech, and agroecology. I would like to make positive change in the world, and am passionate about applying data science to develop sustainable solutions. 
 
-**Erika:** 
-Professionally, I primarily enjoy learning about how computational methods can intersect with a wide variety of fields, especially as they pertain to urban-centered socio-environmental topics. However, I also love exploring new topics and learning about what other people are passionate about so that I can share in their passion. Personally, I love going to the movies and trying new foods and activities.
+**Dustin:** 
+My personal interests are dominated by physical activity. My mom put my brother and I into soccer when we were very young, so we played seasonally until I started running for sport when I was eleven years old. I then joined the UCSB Triathlon team my first year of college for a 3-year stint. I now participate in all of the sports that any Santa Barbarian has dipped their toes in, although running still has my heart. I also enjoy reading primarily fiction or historical books, and working on cars. Professionally, I am predominantly interested in the dissemination of complicated information in a digestible manner to non-Academia, as well as the intersection between ocean conservation and private interests. I would like to bridge the gap between the different sects of stakeholders in ocean health to achieve sustainable utilization of marine resources while maintaining vital ecological benefits and processes. 
 
-**Carlo:** 
-I am professionally interested in accelerating our ability to live within the earth's carrying capacity. As far as I can tell, using computer technology to measure and manage humans and their relationship with the environment is the best way to accomplish this. As an added bonus, sometimes it can be really fun! I especially like working with people who are willing to teach me new things and build friendships. 
+**Sophia:** 
+In my free time, I enjoy playing piano/guitar, long walks on the beach with my husband and dog, boogie boarding, practicing yoga, camping, and watching whatever new Star Wars content is out there. Professionally, my passion lies in the sustainable management of fisheries and sediment within our local watershed. I'm fascinated by local natural processes and their interaction with urbanization. An example of this is the impact of low-impact development strategies on the Santa Barbara watershed, instead of increasing the number of debris basins along local creeks.  When debris basins are used, the sediment is deposited on Goleta beach, potentially impacting beach community structures and Steelhead population health. To learn more and read scientific papers on this topic, feel free to take a look at my Master’s Group Project working with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, located [here](https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/finding-balance-our-urbanized-watersheds-policy-recommendations-alternative-emergency). I aim to use data-driven approaches to inform policies and enhance scientific understanding among the broader public. Ultimately, I hope to find innovative ways to support local communities while maximizing coastal and ocean ecosystem health.
 
-I am personally interested in exercise and recreation. When I was young, I had a number orthopedic health problems that left me with a fear of hurting myself. To ward of the specter of injury I've collected a catalog of hobbies so that I can alternate between them to prevent overuse. At the time of writing my wife and I: climb, trail run, normal run, backpack, swim, surf, play pickleball, do yoga, down-hill ski, back-country ski, and mountaineer. We have also been known to roller blade, but we just call it "blading."
 
 ## Question 3
 
 > What drew you to the Ocean Health Index, and what are you excited to learn?
 
 <br>
 
-**Adelaide:**
-I’ve worked primarily in fisheries monitoring, where the focus was typically on a few endangered species in a localized area. Working with the Ocean Health Index struck me as a great way to broaden my experience by contributing to a project that instead takes a composite indicator approach to monitoring, and synthesizes many sources of data. I’m also interested in data management and reproducibility, and I’m looking forward to learning more about the reproducible workflow OHI uses to efficiently calculate global scores each year.
+**Anna:**
+I heard about OHI from past fellows who I met at NCEAS during my time as a MEDS student. They all talked about how amazing the fellowship was, especially coming from the MEDS program (they were all also MEDS alumni). I was also captivated by how supportive and positive the working environment at NCEAS seemed to be. I grew up along the California coastline, which instilled in me a profound respect for the power and importance of our oceans, as well as the pressing need to monitor and improve ocean health on a global scale. I am excited to learn more about the data processing methodology for each data layer used to update the scores for the goals and subgoals.
+
+**Dustin:** 
+Having grown up in and around the ocean, as well as obtaining my B.S. in Aquatic Biology from UCSB, I have always maintained a deep respect for marine ecosystems and methods by which humans can sustainably interact with them. However, I found in my undergraduate career that information about aspects of such an interconnected system as the Oceans are generally disjointed and isolated to specific aspects. As a result, when I heard about NCEAS and the OHI Fellowship through professor Chris Jerde, I was excited by the idea of a project built around quantifying ocean health in a way that is both intuitive and globally representative. I’m looking forward to learning about the methodology supporting various metrics as well as participating in such a collaborative environment. 
 
-**Erika:** 
-Previously interning at the Arctic Data Center at NCEAS, I had heard about the Ocean Health Index and thought it was a really intriguing synthesis project, particularly because of its emphasis on reproducibility. Growing up along the coast, I’ve also seen a lot of tourism-centered processes and I have always been curious about further exploring humans’ relationship with the ocean in a quantitative way. I am excited to learn more about what benefits humans derive from the ocean and how marine ecosystems can thrive while also sustaining humans.
+**Sophia:** 
+As an undergraduate, I heard about NCEAS and their connection to UCSB by speaking to professors and TAs about my interests. I was drawn to the Global OHI Assessments, which takes a variety of abstract concepts (i.e. ocean health, sense of place, etc), and uses reproducible ways to quantify it using a variety of international sources. I remember loving the visualizations on their website, and kept the position in mind when I was looking for a summer internship before my second year of the MESM degree.  The fellowship aligns with my goal to improve my data science skills, which are then applied to solution-oriented management practices within coastal resource management. I am so excited to learn the underlying processes within OHI and help produce a great open-source resource for a variety of audiences!
 
-**Carlo:** 
-I learned about the Ocean Health Index from a number of my instructors at UC Santa Barbara during my graduate studies. They pitched OHI one of the ways NCEAS pioneered open environmental data science. That is what I am here for. I am here to learn how to work as part of a team to tackle a thorny global scale environmental problem and create value for the communities that rely on the OHI scores. The OHI fellowship is a chance to receive mentorship at one of the central nodes of the environmental science community. It is a great opportunity and I am extremely grateful and excited to get to work!
 
 ## Question 4
 
 > What is something you have found interesting and want to recommend to others?
 
 <br>
 
-**Adelaide:** 
-I highly recommend rabbits as indoor pets. They are adorable, quiet, and great at composting your leftover veggies!
+**Anna:** 
+I would highly recommend the game Subnautica to anyone who’s looking for a new indie survival game with deeper storylines and underwater adventures. I also recently learned about a nitrogen-fixing organelle called a “nitroplast” which is considered to be the fourth known example of endosymbiosis!! You can read more about it in <a href="(https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240509124708.htm#:~:text=The%20scientists%20named%20the%20newly,and%20diatom%20live%20in%20partnership"> this Science Daily article</a> about the *Candidatus Tectiglobus diatomicola*, <a href="https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2024/04/17/scientists-discover-first-nitrogen-fixing-organelle/"> this Berkeley Lab article</a> and <a href="https://news.ucsc.edu/2024/04/nitrogen-fixing-organelle.html"> this UCSC article</a> about the organelle and UCYN-A, and a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01046-z"> Nature</a> article on the topic.
+
+**Dustin:**
+Something that I found surprisingly interesting was curating an insect collection for a class project. I naturally wasn’t expecting a riveting experience, but collecting 80 different morphospecies from 20 different families and 10 orders frankly changed the way I view the world. It was a pleasant exercise in patience as well as exciting to see the abundant variety of beautiful species that have found ways to persist in human-occupied environments. Plus it’s fun to tell your friends you’re going on a “Bug Hunt” (no live bees were caught during the curation of the collection).
 
-**Erika:**
-One of the most fascinating films I’ve seen in theaters in the past year is The Menu. I feel that it comments on our culture surrounding food experiences in a unique way, and the ending subverted my expectations (very important to me in films), was very clever, and caused the whole message to come together nicely.
+**Sophia:** 
+I recently came across a music group named [Fish in a Birdcage](https://www.fishinabirdcage.com/band).  I love the way they combine cello motifs with an electric, folky sound. Plus, their album art is incredible! Here is my favorite:
+<center>
+
+<img src="/images/fish_in_a_birdcage.jpeg" style="width: 30%; height: 30%"/>
 
-**Carlo:** Every yoga studio in Santa Barbara has a new member deal. The yoga studio density in Santa Barbara is so high that you can hop from studio to studio for an entire year as you try each one out for a discounted price. The yoga itself is great and this recommendation is worth trying out just for that, but the best part is getting to see all the different yoga subcultures and meeting all the staff and clientele. This and that corn and yams can be microwaved and eaten as a great midday snack are my two recently learned somethings.
+</center>
 
+I highly recommend the songs “Rule #4 – Fish in a Birdcage” and “Rule #1 – Magic”. They do a great job of using descriptive analogies in a unique way to convey distinct emotions.