Gearing up for a day's work, from left, are Matt Kendall, John Burke and Matt Kendall, 1998 Knauss fellow, and John Christensen, 1995 Texas 

 Jud Kenworthy at the NOAA lab in Beaufort. Knauss fellow, map marine resources for NOAA. 



MAPPING OPPORTUNITIES 



Matt Kendall's Knauss experience 

 took him in still another direction — 

 underwater. Kendall, Knauss Class of 

 1998, worked with NOAA's Caribbean 

 Fisheries Management Council to assess 

 data requirements for essential fish habitat 

 amendments to fishery management plans. 

 His work included mapping the benthic 

 resources of Puerto Rico and the U.S. 

 Virgin Islands. 



"Tough work, but someone has to do 

 it," Kendall says. After completing his 

 master's from NC State, he returned to 

 work with NOAA's National Centers for 

 Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal 

 Monitoring and Assessment. 



He now manages the mapping 

 program he started as a Knauss fellow, 

 spending about one-third of the year in the 

 Caribbean supporting GIS mapping of the 

 400-square-mile area. "We dive all around 

 Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to 

 confirm what we think we see in the waters 

 with GIS technology." 



Of his office in Silver Spring, Md., he 

 says, "I'm in good company here. Eleven 

 of my 15 co-workers are Knauss alumni." 



Kendall says, "I'm an enthusiastic 

 supporter of the Knauss Fellowship 

 Program. Fellows are presented with a 

 variety of excellent opportunities and 

 possibilities. With so many options for host 

 agencies, fellows can broaden their 

 understanding of the interaction of science 

 and policy." 



Opportunity. That's what the Knauss 



Fellowship Program is all about, says 

 Terrence R. Schaff, Knauss Class of 1991. 



Schaff traded his diving gear for a suit 

 and tie when he took a job as a senior 

 advisor for legislative affairs at the National 

 Science Foundation. 



As a Knauss fellow, he was assigned to 

 the U.S. House Merchant Marine and 

 Fisheries Committee on Ocean Science and 

 Policy. Writing legislation, he saw the 

 connection of good science and good policy. 

 He was lucky to have a strong background 

 in the sciences — he had earned a bachelor's 

 degree in marine biology at the University of 

 North Carolina at Wilmington, and was 

 completing his master's in oceanography at 

 NC State. 



The experience was very fulfilling, he 

 says. "The learning curve continued to be 

 very high through the year. Ten years later 

 — I'm not sure when it levels out. That year 

 provided an important base of understanding 

 of the processes which drive Washington." 



Schaff says, "The Knauss fellowship 

 year was very much a beginning, and certainly 

 the singular enabling event in my career." 



DEDICATED TO PUBLIC SERVICE 



Many Knauss alumni remain in public 

 service, Clark points out. "They are 

 committed to using their experiences to help 

 solve some of our country's crucial coastal 

 and marine concerns." 



Daniel Lyons, Knauss Class of 2000, is 

 certainly headed in that direction. He will 

 complete two degrees next year — a 

 master's in environmental management from 



Duke University and a master's of regional 

 planning from the University of North 

 Carolina at Chapel Hill. 



He'll be doubly prepared and is doubly 

 committed to "working to make institutions 

 and policy more responsive to environmen- 

 tal problems and to the social and economic 

 needs of communities." 



As a Knauss, Lyons was assigned to 

 the Federal Emergency Management 

 Agency (FEMA). He traveled to disaster 

 sites and field operations, including post- 

 Floyd eastern North Carolina, to research 

 issues for a report to Congress on FEMA's 

 buyout program. 



In addition, he provided technical 

 assistance for the report to Congress, a 

 survey of hazard mitigation planning, a 

 coastal construction manual and a technical 

 bulletin on marine-related facilities. 



"The FEMA position added variety and 

 depth to my education, allowing me to better 

 understand the connections between open 

 space preservation, economic development 

 and hazard mitigation. I hope to use this 

 knowledge to promote disaster resistance 

 through smart growth and sustainable 

 development," Lyons says. 



The fellowship program honors Knauss 

 — a Sea Grant founder and former dean of 

 the Graduate School of Oceanography at the 

 University of Rhode Island. Knauss served 

 as the administrator of NOAA, Sea Grant's 

 parent agency. 



"Dean Knauss certainly set the bar high 

 as a model of a dedicated public servant," 

 Clark concludes. □ 



COASTWATCH 41 



