11-14-08

Media Release

Anna Pakenham, Oregon Sea Grant Legislative Fellow 2009

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Anna Pakenham has been named the 2009 recipient of the Oregon Sea Grant Legislative Fellowship, which places a graduate student with the legislature's coastal caucus to provide technical expertise on marine and coastal issues.

Pakenham, a native of New Paltz, N.Y., is a graduate student in marine resource management at Oregon State University. Her research focuses on sediment accumulation in the Siletz estuary as a result of land use and global climate change.

She received her undergraduate degree in biology and environmental science from Connecticut College. Prior to moving to Oregon in 2006, Pakenham served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Pohnpei, Micronesia, where she worked with local and nongovernmental agencies to protect and monitor coral reef systems. She previously worked as a biologist with the National Park Service, helping to evaluate the impact of sediment on coral reefs.

Oregon Sea Grant, founded in 1968 and based at OSU, supports research, education, and public outreach to help people understand, responsibly use, and conserve ocean and coastal resources.

Persons interested in news about science, marine education and related activities on the Oregon coast may subscribe to “Breaking Waves,” the Oregon Sea Grant news blog, at: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/blogs/