My name is Mike Allen, and I am one of two Knauss Sea Grant fellows from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant for the 2010 Fellowship class. I’ll be sharing DC experiences on the IISG blog occasionally over the course of my fellowship year to highlight the fellowship and what a “policy position” in the federal government is really like.

In this first post, I’ll share a little bit about my position. I am one of ~35 executive branch fellows in this year’s class. (There are also 10 fellows serving in members or committees in Congress.) We all met in DC in November for a week of interviews to decide where we would be placed in the federal government. Each of us had 12 – 15 half-hour interviews with various offices across NOAA, the Dept. of Energy, the Navy, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Dept. of State, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies with an ocean, coast, or Great Lakes focus. I had an idea of what sounded interesting going into the week, but sitting down and talking with a variety of offices led me to the conclusion that working at NOAA’s Silver Spring complex would be the right fit for me. I subsequently chose to work with Dr. Mike Uhart, executive director of the Office of Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes in NOAA’s research office.

In this position, I act as the primary liaison between NOAA’s administrative headquarters and our three “wet labs” – the Pacific Marine Environmental Lab (PMEL), the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab (AOML), and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (GLERL). As an aquatic ecologist with a degree from the University of Illinois, this is a fantastic fit for me, as a primary responsibility of my position is to know all about the ongoing research activities and needs of these nationally-renowned research institutions.

What I have learned is incredibly fascinating. For example, PMEL is the world leader in tsunami research and developed the buoy systems that monitor potential tsunamis like the one that occurred after the recent Chile earthquake. AOML is a leader in hurricane research and forecasting, and flies research missions into hurricanes using NOAA’s fleet of P-3 research aircraft. GLERL is the major center of research on the Great Lakes, and is at the forefront of our understanding of invasive zebra and quagga mussel invasions into the largest freshwater system in the world.

Over the course of the next year, I will share some of my perceptions and experiences from my fellowship year. Look for my next post on the Laboratory Review at the Earth Sciences Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado in the near future.

(Mike Allen recently completed his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, where he focused on population and community ecology of freshwater zooplankton. He can be reached at Mike.Allen@noaa.gov.)

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Today is the last day to submit your bracket for this year’s Rain Garden Rumble! It’s our favorite time of the year...Rain Garden Rumble!This will be our 6th annual competition where 28 native plant species go head-to-head (or bloom-to-bloom?) in a fierce competition. But the best part? YOU determine who is crowned champion.There are a few ways to participate. First, fill out a bracket* (steps below). Then, vote in our daily Instagram polls or Facebook posts from March 18th through April 4th. The person who submits the most accurate bracket wins a sweet set of Illinois Extension "rain-care" merch (an umbrella and rain gauge)!👀*You do NOT have to fill out a bracket to vote in the polls!1. Click the link in our bio to open our official blog with more information regarding the event.2. Scroll down and click our bracket.3. In the tab that pops up, click the “download” icon.4. Fill it out with your picks and save the document. Please include your name! Note that you can learn more about the plants by clicking their names in the bracket.5. Submit your completed bracket to RedOakRainGarden@illinois.edu by Monday, March 17. Matches begin the following day on Facebook and Instagram.May the best plant win...🌿🏆#RainGardenRumble2025
Applications are open! Graduate student applicants can request up to $10,000 to support research expenses, graduate student stipends, travel, or other activities that help expand the scholarly or societal impact of their research.One of IISG’s long-term goals is to help build a community of researchers and outreach professionals focused on critically important Lake Michigan issues. The IISG Scholars programs are designed to help build this community by introducing researchers to the issues and the individuals, organizations, and communities that are affected by them.Applications due April 9th.Learn more about this opportunity at the link in bio.
The IISG program, in cooperation with the @nationalparkservice at @indianadunesnps and @UrbanRivers in Chicago, is offering two internship opportunities to support conservation policy efforts. Sea Grant’s national Community Engaged Internship (CEI) program aims to broaden participation in coastal, ocean, Great Lakes, and marine sciences providing training and mentorship to the next generation of scientists, decision-makers, and citizens. The program will do so by recruiting, retaining and engaging students in place-based research, extension, education, and/or communication that respects and integrates local ways of knowing.Applications due March 17.Learn more at the link in bio.
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