By Charlotte Stevenson, January 15, 2021

University of California San Diego itself claims that it “makes changemakers,” and this week’s kick-off of the Scripps-Rady Ocean Plastic Pollution Challenge is no exception to that claim. Of the almost 300 applications from 28 countries, 22 U.S. states and territories, 29 were selected for the full program, and six are UC San Diego students or alumni. 

This team-based, competitive Challenge will push the participants over the next 6 months to be innovative, even radical, and to cooperate across sectors that often do not cross-pollinate. In her welcoming remarks to the program participants this week, Rady Dean Lisa D. Ordóñez asked them to remember, “that no one discipline can solve the problem of marine plastic pollution...very different perspectives are very important here.”

Lauren Hackney, a current MBA candidate at Rady, is part of the Challenge team which will focus on San Diego's capacity and desire for preventing ocean plastic pollution. Lauren is also concerned about the recent increases in single use plastics due to the COVID-19 epidemic. “I am interested in learning how we can continue the plastic pollution efforts while also ensuring our communities remain safe from the virus,” she says. Lauren believes that her time at Rady has prepared her well for this type of interdisciplinary challenge. At Rady “we all come from different industries and backgrounds and we are able to use our strengths to our advantage and forge cross functional solutions together.”

Kara Wiggin is a current Ph.D. candidate at Scripps studying the effects of microplastic pollution on marine organisms. Kara has already begun asking the hard questions: “How do we get people to care? How do we get the public to support the structural changes necessary to address this issue?” Although Kara comes from a scientific perspective, she is looking forward to collaborating as with the diverse group of applicants in the Challenge. “I believe that a more diverse group is able to develop more creative and effective solutions,” says Kara, “and I am looking forward to seeing what we can learn and develop over the course of this challenge.”

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By Charlotte Stevenson, January 4, 2021

These days, it’s not common to hear good news on the topic of plastic waste in the ocean. Today, though, we have great news. A new program, the Scripps-Rady Ocean Plastic Pollution Challenge begins January 12 with 29 incredibly talented, diverse, open-minded participants who are ready to completely rethink how we protect marine conservation and cultural areas from plastic pollution.

The participants are coming prepared for a real challenge, and are eager to be part of something impactful. “A complex challenge often requires a complex solution,” said Colin Duncan, Challenge participant and Product Development Lead at Forever Wild Seafood in Oregon.

The participants also bring a range of experience with plastic debris. Some have very little plastic experience, like quantitative analyst, Adam Mihalik, but who has built impressively impactful forecasting models for wind farm power generation, customer energy demand, and shipping fleets. Others live and breathe plastic waste, like Alex Ferron, Rise Above Plastics Leader with the Surfrider Foundation, and Cleo Ninja Stratmann, a Ph.D. candidate, studying water, environmental and urban systems in France.

“The competition for this program was really steep. We received almost 300 applications from 28 countries, 22 U.S. states and territories, and from a broad array of different fields of work and study,” said Stuart Sandin, Challenge Co-Leader and Professor and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (CMBC) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. The Scripps-Rady Ocean Plastic Pollution Challenge is a partnership between the CMBC and the Center for Social Innovation and Impact (CSII) at the Rady School of Management, UC San Diego. “What is so exciting is that these 29 participants really understand what we are trying to do,” said Sandin. 

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