Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

Denise Alcantara (MAS MBC 2023) is currently living in Manila in the Philippines, where she is a post-masteral fellow at DLSU-SHORE Research Center. Denise will be working with an adviser and the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Biodiversity Management Bureau to turn her capstone project, Roadmap Toward a Philippine Coral Reef Act into a reality.

Lalitha Asirvadam (MAS MBC 2013) is living in Washington, D.C., and in June she started a new role as a Social Media Strategist for the National Science Foundation with FedWriters. Last summer, when she was a contractor for NOAA, Lalitha volunteered to be a data manager on the NOAA Ship Rainier for coral reef surveys in the Northern Mariana Islands. She wrote an article for the Coral Reef Conservation Program’s website detailing her experience, titled Data Management on the High Seas.

Matt Leslie (MS 2011, PhD 2016) is living in Media, PA and working as Assistant Professor of Biology at Ursinus College. Matt completed AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship ('21-'23) with the USGS's National Climate Adaptation Science Center. He was invited to serve on the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service's Science Review Group for the Pacific Region. Matt was also invited to serve on the Science Advisory Board for the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program for the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.

Crystal Dombrow (MAS MBC 2019) published her second paper at NOAA PIFSC, "Economic and social characteristics of the American Samoa small boat fishery, 2021." It supports equity and environmental justice for national fisheries management and is contributing to current Western Pacific regional management discussions of bottomfish fisheries and the large vessel prohibited area. Crystal also contributed to the recent NOAA PIFSC technical memorandum, "Ecosystem-based Fisheries Science in a Data-limited Region." She co-authored the section on communications, collaborations, and agency priorities. 

Sheila Walsh Reddy (PhD 2009) is living in Durham, NC, and Wilson, WY, where she works as the Senior Director, Conservation Impact at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). She is responsible for TNC's global approach to measuring impact on biodiversity and climate. Join Sheila and others from the Society of Conservation Biology on Tuesdays starting in September for a virtual seminar series on impact evaluation and implementation science.