Kaitlyn Kowaleski
Postdoctoral Scholar
Expertise
- Shellfisheries Science
- Marine Invertebrate Ecology
- Cooperative Research
- Education and Outreach
Kaitlyn Kowaleski works at the intersection between marine invertebrates and the coastal communities that depend on them. She joins Washington Sea Grant as a postdoctoral scholar working to support scenario planning and decision making by the Willapa-Grays Harbor Estuary Collaborative. Along with the Collaborative’s facilitation team, Kaitlyn will be convening focus groups and conducting oral history interviews with diverse stakeholders, including shellfish aquaculture industry members, researchers, tribes, and state and federal partners. Insights from these meetings will be incorporated into conceptual social-ecological system models through an iterative feedback process with Collaborative members. The consensus model will be used for scenario planning and evaluating alternative management strategies for the coastal estuaries.
Beyond her research, Kaitlyn is committed to providing high-quality marine science education and outreach, particularly for K-12 audiences and undergraduate students. She has experience developing K-12 lesson plans and has led activities at numerous community education events. As a graduate student, she developed and taught two undergraduate seminars on the Fisheries and Fishing Communities of Chesapeake Bay and Marvelous Molluscs: Introduction to Malacology.
Trained as a fisheries scientist, Kaitlyn earned a B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Her early research experiences included conducting oral history interviews with marine worm harvesters in coastal Maine to document their local ecological knowledge and the social dynamics of this little-known fishery. Her Ph.D. research focused on the reproductive and feeding ecology of Atlantic sea scallops, particularly at high population densities. As part of that work, she developed decision tools to aid in the management of high-density recruitment events, a complex management challenge in the fishery. Outside of her work in marine science, Kaitlyn enjoys hiking, reading fantasy/sci fi novels, and fostering rescue animals.
