Isabel Butler Viruet and Abdulmajid ‘Majeed’ Alrefaie, both Ph.D. candidates at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), and Shayna Keller, an UMCES master’s student, have been awarded a place in the prestigious John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program.
Through the program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Sea Grant awards highly qualified graduate students with one-year, paid fellowships working in federal government offices in Washington, D.C. The program – named after one of Sea Grant’s founders and former NOAA Administrator, John A. Knauss – allows students to pursue their interests in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources by engaging them in work related to national policy decisions affecting those resources. Since 1979, a total of 1665 fellows have been placed throughout the executive and legislative branches.
2025 placement is ongoing through October, which includes interviews, networking with potential hosts, and then host-position-fellow pairing.
Congratulations to our 2025 fellows!
Isabel Butler Viruet
Isabel is a Ph.D. candidate in Jeremy Testa’s lab at Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, Md.
"I’m interested in understanding how coastal ecosystems respond to nutrient enrichment and how these further respond to nutrient concentration decrease and other mitigation strategies," said said. Currently, Isabel is focused on floating wetlands and their potential for nitrogen removal on mesohaline water of the Chesapeake Bay as a means of mitigating the effects of nitrogen pollution.
Majeed Alrefaie
Majeed is a Ph.D. candidate and graduate research assistant (GRA) in Yantao Li’s lab at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore, Md.
"I am working to understand the processes that microalgae undergo that result in byproducts used in biofuel, bioremediation and pharmaceuticals," he said. "Specifically, I want to better understand the processes by which microalgae are breaking down acetate, a specific carbon molecule, and how to maximize the outputs of its byproducts, a topic of great significance to the algal biotechnology industry."
Shayna Keller
Shayna is a master’s student and GRA – working alongside her advisor, Judy O’Neil – at Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, Md. Shayna is studying the effect of a benthic filamentous cyanobacteria, called Lyngbya, on a large recovering aquatic grass bed on the Susquehanna Flats, which is situated in the northern portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
"The goal is to learn which factors drive the Lyngbya growth on the aquatic grasses, and what the ecological effects of Lyngbya on the Susquehanna Flat are, including if the Lyngbya is producing any toxins that can be harmful to humans or the ecosystem," she said.
