When I was an undergraduate, I experienced many great research opportunities outside of the classroom that took me from the Blue Hole in Belize to the Florida Keys. However, the opportunity that has always ranked highest was the summer I… Full story
Student Blog


Gaining new experiences as the Coastal Research and Extension Fellow
March 31, 2021
My name is Isaiah Leach, and I am the Coastal Research and Extension Fellow at UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant. The purpose of this fellowship is to give recent graduates, like myself, exposure to the variety of positions held… Full story

A New Normal for Outreach and Education
March 10, 2021
My marine education fellowship has a variety of responsibilities, the most prominent being environmental education. As a fellow, I look forward to teaching coastal ecology and marine science to all age groups. However, as we tread the COVID-19 pandemic, being… Full story

Clichè or not, it’s all about the climb
March 10, 2021
To know me is to understand that music is my outlet and biology is my passion. I often find myself going back to the lyrics of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” to reminisce on the very journey that has brought me… Full story

What’s a town to dune? How Tybee Island is using native plants to stabilize sand dunes
February 23, 2021
Halloween 2020 found me crouched in the sand dunes on Tybee Island trying to record accretion measurements while 25 mph winds howled and swirled the sand around me. As it turns out, trying to do field work that day wasn’t… Full story

Rolling with the punches: The misadventures of a Marine Education Fellow during a pandemic
December 16, 2020
Over the past three months, I’ve experienced a lot of transition since I moved to Skidaway Island, Georgia, to serve as one of four Marine Education Fellows this year at the UGA Aquarium! Social distancing protocols have changed what our… Full story

An aspiring food scientist’s mission to introduce jellyfish in the American market
November 25, 2020
After finishing my bachelor’s in food science at the University of Florida, I decided to pursue my graduate degree at UGA because I was fascinated with the idea of working with edible jellyfish. It was something too intriguing to pass… Full story

Being open to the journey: reflections from a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow
October 8, 2020
“Not all who wander are lost,” – J.R.R. Tolkien. This quote resonates with the value and vision driven—albeit less conventional—journey I have taken that has led me to a Ph.D. in Integrative Conservation and Anthropology and my current position as… Full story

Trawls and Tribulations
August 6, 2020
A year ago, I arrived at the UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant Brunswick Station in Glynn County on the Georgia coast. I was conducting my master’s research in the Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development Program at UGA’s Odum… Full story

A new solution to a looming shortage of lithium: The ocean!
July 22, 2020
My experience as a volunteer in Chiang Rai, a remote area of Thailand that lacks good energy, water and education infrastructure, inspired me to work on sustainability research and develop affordable renewable energy technologies as part of my graduate studies…. Full story