PhD Student

Jill Harris

Undergraduate Degree:  BA, Biology and Environmental Studies

Undergraduate University:  Dartmouth College

Postgraduate Degree: MNA, Marine Affairs

Postgraduate University: University of Washington
Thesis : "Social and Institutional Factors in the Development of a Network of Community-Based Marine Protected Areas"

Email: j4harris@ucsd.edu   

Advisors:  Jennifer Smith

Research interests:

• coral reef community ecology
• marine protected areas and ecosystem-based management
• conservation biology
• incorporating social and natural sciences into natural resource management 

Brief Bio:
Originally from northern California, Jill grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and likes to describe herself as “a big fan of the ocean.”  Jill recently completed my Master’s degree at the University of Washington, School of Marine Affairs.  She studied community management of marine resources, including a year-long study to advise the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary on implementing ecosystem-based management.  Her thesis, “Social and institutional factors in the development of a network of community-based marine protected areas,” took her to Cebu, Philippines, where she examined the feasibility of implementing an MPA network. 

Jill holds a Bachelor’s degree in both Biology and Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College.  Her undergraduate ecology research included coral reef studies at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab in Jamaica and spatial aquatic ecology at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in Georgia, as part of the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program.

Teaching has been an integral part of Jill’s academic and professional career.  At UW, she taught several graduate and undergraduate classes, including Interdisciplinary Foundations of Environmental Studies, Aquatic Animal Physiology and Reproduction, and Research Proposal Writing.  Prior to graduate school, she spent several years on the 100-mile long and 2-mile wide island of Eleuthera, Bahamas, where she taught marine science and math to American and Bahamian high school students at The Island School.  As a researcher at the Cape Eleuthera Institute, she also developed a research study on the ecological and social aspects of a proposed marine protected area.

At Scripps her research focuses on the ecology and human use of tropical marine systems, particularly small-scale coral reef fisheries and marine protected areas.  She works to understand the many dimensions of complex human-ecological systems, taking into account both the natural and social sciences.


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