Kara Chuang was born and raised in Los Angeles, but her experiences in marine science have taken her all across the country. She received her bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. In between studying and playing collegiate rugby, she also studied marine science abroad at the University of Queensland in Australia and interned for NOAA in Juneau, Alaska where she created a tailored curriculum on marine science and conservation principles for K-12 students. During the end of her time at Cal, she became involved with an early-stage aquaculture technologies startup called SeaWarden that aimed to use satellite imagery to observe shrimp pond aquaculture worldwide. This role led her to move to Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i where she became more involved with the local aquaculture industry there. She then went on to work as a hatchery technician at Blue Ocean Mariculture, the nation’s only offshore finfish aquaculture farm, where she was able to observe the ins and outs of the commercial aquaculture industry from the ground level. This position solidified her love for aquaculture and inspired her desire to affect change in the seafood industry. To further this dream, she made the long move from Hawai’i to Maine in order to pursue her Master’s in Marine Biology. Her research focused on developing and evaluating new microparticulate diet types for marine finfish to be used in commercial hatcheries. Kara defended her Master of Science in August 2024 and continues to progress this project as a research professional with the University of Maine/Aquaculture Research Institute. In her free time, you can find Kara on a hiking trail, playing rugby, volunteering at the community theater, or hosting local pub trivia.

Kara is a member of the 2025 cohort of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow and will receive her placement shortly. She is excited to learn and grow from this position and looks forward to observing issues in marine science from a different perspective.