University of Maine Graduate Student Selected for NOAA/Sea Grant Fellowship
Maine Sea Grant is excited to announce that Jerelle Jesse, a doctoral student in marine biology at the University of Maine, is a recipient of the 2024 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship!
As a NMFS-Sea Grant Population Dynamics Fellow, Jerelle will focus on evaluating how biological reference points, which help determine stock status and guide catch limits, can be adjusted for climate-driven changes in stock productivity (such as recruitment, growth, and natural mortality). In addition to providing Jerelle insight into the process of federal stock assessment, the fellowship will help further her educational and career goals by fostering close mentorship relationships with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center staff and by building connections with peers who share similar research interests.
“I am most looking forward to making connections with other fellows who have similar research interests as I do and working closely with my NMFS mentor, Tim Miller,” said Jerelle. “After the fellowship I plan on pursuing a career in a federal agency to work on stock assessment and climate integrated modeling to support sustainable fisheries management.”
Jerelle brings to the fellowship a knowledge of fisheries science, population dynamics, and fisheries management, as well as strong quantitative skills and simulation modeling experience. Her current interests focus broadly on fisheries stock assessment and quantitative methods to inform sustainable management and address climate challenges. Jerelle joined Dr. Lisa Kerr’s Quantitative Fisheries Research Lab at the University of Maine in 2023. In 2015 she received her Bachelor of Science in marine biology from the University of Massachusetts — Dartmouth, before earning her Master of Science in marine, estuarine, and environmental science from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science — Chesapeake Biological Lab in 2020.
Jerelle is one of only seven population dynamics fellows that will embark on critical fisheries research with support through this national program. Since 1999, this fellowship program has trained the next generation of fisheries scientists, addressing the need for expertise in stock assessments and fisheries management. Fellows in population dynamics focus on modeling and managing marine ecosystems, assessing fish stocks, invertebrates, mammals and other targeted and protected species. Marine resource economics fellows address the economic dimensions of conserving and managing living marine resources.
Congratulations, Jerelle!
Learn more about Jerelle’s work, meet the fellows and read about their research journeys through NOAA’s announcement here. Students interested in applying to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship are encouraged to reach out to the Maine Sea Grant Assistant Director for Research, jessica.jansujwicz@maine.edu.
Posted 2 October 2024