Sticky hands on the glass at the aquarium were my introduction to the ocean. Growing up, the only access I had to the marine environment was staring into the glass at the Indianapolis Zoo, mesmerized by the different colors and creatures living in the aquarium. As a kid, I had visited the ocean only a […]

When most people hear Greenland in 2026, they think about geopolitics. As a graduate student studying global policy, I used to think that way too. However, I gradually realized that while the Arctic was receiving unprecedented international attention, the people who call it home were becoming increasingly absent from the conversation. That realization ultimately led […]

I didn’t find my way into the marine industry through a classroom. I grew up in a small boatyard on the marsh of the Royal River as the daughter of a boat builder. Early on, I came to understand the rhythms of working waterfronts and the people who depend on them. I grew up listening […]

My name is Melisa Uyar and I am currently a PhD student in Ecology and Environmental Science at UMaine. When I arrived at UMaine originally as a M.S. Economics student, my early coursework and research led me to applied projects exploring consumers and seafood. This was my first exposure to marine resource economics (if we […]

Growing up in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, I was basically a city kid who needed the ocean to breathe in every vacation. Every chance I got, I traveled, and the coastal trips were always the closest to me. Nothing captured me quite like Cox’s Bazar, the longest natural sea beach in the world. Standing […]

My family left Broad Channel years ago though the imprint of the community and my childhood lingers. The island is where I first squished my toes in dark, sticky marshland mud and inhaled the pungent perfume of low tide in view of the glowing lights of the Empire State Building. Once a year, I make […]