FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 20, 2009       

Contact: Catherine Schmitt, 207-581-1434                                                                 catherine.schmitt@umit.maine.edu
                                                                                       

Maine law graduate to work on marine policy in Washington, DC

Orono, ME—The National Sea Grant College Program has awarded Rebecca McMahon of Kennebunkport, Maine, a prestigious Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.

McMahon joins 45 fellow graduates from around the country who will be working on marine policy in Washington, DC. The fellowships provide an opportunity for recent graduates to apply their scientific background to marine and coastal policy-making at the national level.

McMahon, a graduate of Kennebunk High School and University of New Hampshire, earned a J.D. from Maine School of Law in May, 2008. Prior to entering law school, she conducted water quality monitoring and watershed research at the Jackson Estuarine Laboratory in New Hampshire and the Marine Environmental Research Institute in Blue Hill, Maine.

McMahon says she has long been interested in ocean policy issues. She spent a summer during law school working on groundfishing regulations with Roger Fleming of Earthjustice. "It was fascinating and I loved it," says McMahon, "I'm interested in policy and law, and I'm excited that I can be having this great experience in DC and be able to connect it back to Maine, my home and the place that I love."

"Rebecca has shown that she is dedicated to working on solutions to the growing ocean policy issues facing our nation today," said Fleming of Earthjustice.  

McMahon has been assigned to work in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Legislative Affairs.

The Knauss fellowship was established in 1979 for students who are interested in ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources and the national policy decisions that affect those resources. Qualified graduate students spend a year with "hosts" in the legislative and executive branch of government in Washington, DC. The program is named in honor of one of the founders of the National Sea Grant College Program, former NOAA Administrator John A. Knauss. The application deadline for 2010 fellowships is February 20, 2009. More information is available at http://www.seagrant.noaa.gov/knauss/.

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