Knauss legislative fellowships in Congress help build careers — and they're fun and educational. See our video and fact sheet for details.
Past Post Graduate Fellows
Science Management and Policy Internship
Fellowship at:
Maryland Sea Grant CollegeCool Facts:
Hannah graduated from North Carolina State University with degrees in Biological Oceanography and Zoology and a minor in Applied Ecology. Throughout her undergraduate career, she enjoyed learning about and participating in a mixture of ecological research and environmental management and policy. Hannah particularly enjoyed exploring the impacts of climate change on environmental and community health and was interested in working with an organization committed to addressing climate change.
Fellowship at:
Maryland Sea Grant CollegeCool Facts:
Eva May received a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences, with a minor in biology, as well as a certificate in marine science and conservation leadership from Duke University. Her time at Duke taught her what a career in marine science could look like. While she enjoyed rehabilitating and researching sea turtles and parrotfish hatchlings, she also learned the ways in which her research could facilitate changes in fisheries management and in ecosystems as a whole. May’s course work exposed her to several marine coastal areas, including the Chesapeake Bay. Her knowledge of the region, combined with her broad interest in marine sciences, made her a great fit for Maryland Sea Grant.Maryland Law and Policy Fellowship
Fellowship at:
Agriculture Law Education Initiative and Maryland Sea Grant CollegeCool Facts:
As an islander who grew up in Taiwan, her love for the land, coast, and ocean is the driving force behind her research and career path. She enjoys working in an interdisciplinary arena where law and science can complement each other in policy-making processes. Her recent research has been published in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences.
Fellowship at:
Agriculture Law Education Initiative and Maryland Sea Grant CollegeCool Facts:
Elissa Torres-Soto is a recent Environmental and Energy Law LL.M. graduate from Georgetown University Law Center. With the supervision of Nicole Cook from the Agriculture Law Education Initiative (ALEI), she is currently working on a legal journal article about the standing requirements to present a protest to a new commercial shellfish aquaculture lease in the State of Maryland. She is also working on a fact sheet about how to transfer a commercial shellfish aquaculture lease in Maryland. Another of Elissa’s projects includes developing a guide for navigating the state and federal permitting processes for nature-based projects on the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area. Elissa completed her fellowship in fall 2021 and is now working as a staff attorney with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington D.C.State Science Policy Fellowship
Fellowship at:
University of Maryland Center for Environmental ScienceCool Facts:
Kayle’s research interests are broad but focus on ecological systems response to anthropogenic stressors. Her spare time is spent keeping up with her family, reading and exploring the east coast.
Fellowship at:
Maryland Department of the EnvironmentCool Facts:
Aubrey is deeply interested in applied, community-focused science that bridges the gap between natural science understanding and social applications of knowledge. She is also interested in combining natural and social science methods to measure environmental management impacts. In her free time, Aubrey enjoys rock climbing, hiking, cooking and baking, reading, theater, and spoiling her adorable cat.
Fellowship at:
Maryland Environmental ServiceCool Facts:
Khurshid Jahan holds a Ph.D. in Geosciences at the University of Rhode Island, USA and a MSc in Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Recently she was awarded by the Rhode Island Society of Environmental Professionals to support her research on stormwater management. In addition, URI awarded her the 2019 John J. Fisher Memorial Award for excellence as a teaching assistant in geology. Her current research expands on this and explores relations between climate change, urbanization, environmental impact, and water quality degradation.
Fellowship at:
Maryland Department of the EnvironmentCool Facts:
Rachel Lamb earned her PhD in Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland College Park in Spring 2021. Her research centers on the applications of NASA Carbon Monitoring System forest carbon science to advance strategic climate mitigation planning with co-benefits for biodiversity and human livelihoods. Since 2020, she has lead the Campus Forest Carbon project, helping the University of Maryland better incorporate forest carbon science into their Climate Action Plan and Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
Fellowship at:
University System of Maryland Office for the Vice President for SustainabilityCool Facts:
Tassew Mekuria is a State Policy Fellow working for the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science on environmental policy issues in support of the Science and Technology Working Group of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change. Mekuria is also assisting the Office of the University System of Maryland Chancellor on environmental sustainability issues. He earned a Master's in Biology and PhD in Bioenvironmental Science from Morgan State University.Program Announcements
News and Blogs
Featured Fellow
Leone Yisrael is a cephalopod-loving scuba diver, cook, and loves to try new activities. She conducts genetic analysis and fieldwork at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center through the Coastal Disease Ecology Lab.
Featured Research Project
Developing a habitat model for mysids, an important link in Chesapeake Bay food webs
Mysids are important mesozooplankton prey for many species of fish in Chesapeake Bay and are an important link in transferring energy from lower to upper trophic levels. Mysids also serve as biological vectors for benthic-pelagic coupling due to their diel vertical migration and omnivorous prey-switching behavior, which makes mysids important regulators of food web architecture. Despite their central role in coastal food webs, surprisingly little is known about mysid ecology and dynamics in Chesapeake Bay.
Chesapeake Quarterly Magazine
Complicated Contaminants: Finding PFAS in the Chesapeake Bay
