Pew Welcomes Six 2022 Marine Fellows

Philadelphia—The Pew Charitable Trusts today announced that six scientists have been named the 2022 recipients of the Pew fellowship in marine conservation. The fellows—from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States—join a global community of nearly 200 experts engaged in vital ocean conservation work on all continents.

Each Pew marine fellow will conduct a three-year research project designed to build evidence to inform pressing challenges in the marine environment. The 2022 cohort’s projects will consider diverse issues in ocean science and conservation, including exploring deep-sea habitats, investigating marine protected areas’ socioeconomic impacts on nearby communities, improving seagrass restoration, and monitoring penguin populations.

“Marine research plays an essential role in expanding our understanding of the ocean and moving conservation forward,” said Susan K. Urahn, Pew’s president and CEO. “Pew has long supported research that can be used to expand our knowledge and inform critical decisions about our oceans, and the newest Pew marine fellows join a growing community of individuals who are pursuing innovative, actionable science.”

The 2022 Pew marine fellows are:

Diva Amon, Ph.D.
SpeSeas, Trinidad and Tobago
Amon will explore Trinidad and Tobago’s little-studied mesophotic and deep-sea habitats to inform management of deep-ocean biodiversity in the country.

Heather J. Lynch, Ph.D.
Stony Brook University, United States
Lynch will apply techniques from the field of quantitative finance to improve monitoring of Antarctic penguin species.

Daniel K. Okamoto, Ph.D.
Florida State University, United States
Okamoto will work in partnership with the Council of the Haida Nation and Gwaii Haanas Parks Canada to investigate the likely impacts of a traditional Haida abalone fishery.

Jillian Ooi, Ph.D.
Universiti Malaya, Malaysia
Ooi will identify techniques and environmental conditions that promote seagrass root growth to improve marine habitat restoration practices.

Fitryanti Pakiding, Ph.D.
University of Papua, Indonesia
Pakiding will investigate marine protected areas’ socioeconomic impacts on nearby communities to inform the design and management of area-based conservation measures.

Dipani Sutaria, Ph.D.
James Cook University, India
Sutaria will research the diversity and distribution of cetaceans and other megafauna in the southeastern Arabian Sea to strengthen whale and dolphin conservation in one of India’s most productive marine ecosystems.

Now in its 26th year, the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation awards mid-career scientists and other experts $150,000 grants over three years to pursue conservation-oriented research projects. Fellows are selected by an international committee of marine science experts through a rigorous nomination and review process. Pew has recognized 195 marine fellows from 41 countries since the start of the program.