NOAA 97-R509
                                   
 Contact: Dane Konop                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
          Susan Borda                 8/19/97

AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY/SEA GRANT INTERNSHIP
GOES TO UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND'S LEE R. BENAKA

Lee R. Benaka of the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R.I., has been named the American Fisheries Society/National Sea Grant College Program Intern, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.

The internship is structured to provide a broad range of professional and educational experiences. Benaka will organize a national symposium of fisheries experts and a Sea Grant fisheries research forum as well as work with American Fisheries Society and NOAA staff on environmental policy issues. He will receive a stipend during the 16-month internship and be based at the American Fisheries Society in Washington, D.C.

Applicants for the internship were required to have an M.S. or be a current graduate student in marine or Great Lakes-related science, policy or marine affairs with outstanding skills or training in writing or communications.

Benaka is a graduate assistant and master of marine affairs candidate at the University of Rhode Island. He received a B.A. from Columbia College, New York, N.Y.

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