Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

Ann is a second year MEM student who recently joined YPCCC and assists Jennifer Marlon in her work studying historical wildfire patterns. Ann earned her BA in earth science from Vassar College in 2011, graduating with departmental honors, a minor in history, and recognition for distinctive senior research. Her undergraduate thesis used microscopic plankton shells in lake sediments to investigate paleoclimate trends in New Mexico. After college, Ann moved back to her hometown of Juneau, Alaska, and began working at NOAA’s Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute, where she participated in fisheries ecology research and bioenergetic analysis. In 2013, she earned the opportunity to join a marine research project in the Arctic. She spent two consecutive summers collecting fish, plankton, and oceanographic data along the Arctic Ocean coast in northern Alaska, and used this information to examine climate-driven shifts in the types of prey available to Arctic seabirds. Arctic issues are now her primary focus at F&ES, especially coastal management and marine policy. After graduating, Ann hopes to begin a career developing policy initiatives that will conserve Arctic ecosystems and promote sustainable development in polar regions.