September 17, 2025
Congratulations to our new WSG Coastal Resilience Fellows!
We are pleased to announce that recent graduates Anabel Baker, Elyse Kelsey, Madeleine Lucas and Rich Desanto have been awarded the Washington Sea Grant (WSG) Coastal Resilience Fellowship for 2025–2027.
This is the inaugural cohort of the new WSG Coastal Resilience Fellowship, a unique educational opportunity for early or shifting career professionals to provide additional capacity for coastal communities around coastal resilience. A two-year, paid fellowship program, the WSG Coastal Resilience Fellowship is driven by coastal communities’ most urgent and critical ares of focus around coastal resilience. The fellowship is funded by the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge through the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Host offices for this cohort of fellows are Chinook Nation and the Columbia Land Trust, Quinault Indian Nation, Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, and Pacific Conservation District. The fellows will begin work in September.
Learn more about the first cohort of WSG Coastal Resilience Fellows below!
ANABEL BAKER
Ey7 skweyel nekwilye! Anabel has held a passion for Coast Salish waters and beyond for their entire life. From pulling with their Samish canoe family to operating deep-sea robots in the Central Pacific, Anabel always finds a way to connect with the sea. Born and raised in Seattle, Anabel pursued higher education early through the Ocean Research College Academy in Everett, then studied at Oregon State University for 5 years for their Bachelor’s and Master’s in ecological engineering, where their learning ranged from hydrologic modeling to microcontroller design. During this time, Anabel kept to the sea, working an internship at the Hatfield Marine Science Center Innovation Lab designing an open source water quality sensor for tide gates. Additionally, in 2023 Anabel worked as an ROV engineering intern at sea aboard the ocean exploration vessel E/V Nautilus, returning as an ROV copilot the following two summers for a month-long expedition each. Having recently graduated with their Master’s in June of 2025, Anabel is honored to be a Coastal Resilience Fellow with Chinook Nation and the Columbia Land Trust, and is excited to see what the future holds next. Hoy7sxwq’e!
ELYSE KELSEY
Elyse Kelsey grew up in the Seattle area with a deep appreciation for beautiful Pacific Northwest coastal ecosystems. She attended Western Washington University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental science and a graduate certificate in data science for environmental applications. After a few years working in elementary education, Elyse began graduate school in order to combine her interests in environmental science and community education. Elyse recently graduated from the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. Alongside her Master of Marine Affairs degree, Elyse earned a graduate certificate in climate change and health, with the goal of developing interdisciplinary, community-engaged solutions to complex environmental challenges brought about by climate change. Through the graduate certificate, Elyse started working with the Center for Disaster Resilient Communities to conduct qualitative data analysis to determine how public health information is incorporated into hazard mitigation plans across Washington’s four Pacific Coast counties. As part of the inaugural Coastal Resilience Fellowship cohort, Elyse will collaborate with the Quinault Indian Nation to build community resilience to coastal hazards and gain experience in the field of emergency management.
MADELEINE LUCAS
Madeleine strives to make a positive difference in her community through her work as a marine geophysicist and science educator. Maddy’s scientific fieldwork has taken her on research expeditions far offshore to study underwater fault zones capable of generating large earthquakes and tsunamis in the Pacific Northwest. But her passion truly lies at the intersection between science and people – a calling that was nurtured through her involvement in the Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hub. Originally a Michigander, Madeleine found a home away from home along Washington’s coastline through leading the Cascadia Culture & GeoScience Exchange (CCASE). CCASE is a K-12 outreach program that teaches about coastal geohazards at tribal high schools while also exchanging culture with the Quileute and Makah Tribes. She is beyond excited to begin the Coastal Resilience Fellowship with the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe because it combines her passion for coastal hazards science and education with local, tribally-led efforts to prepare for a major Cascadia earthquake and tsunami event.
RICH DESANTO
Originally from the shores of the San Francisco Bay, Rich’s connection to marine and estuarine ecosystems have been life long and formative. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and another in Art while living on the coast in Santa Cruz. Through both degrees he grappled with socio-cultural and environmental processes shaping and reshaping our planet. After graduating, Rich worked with an environmental arts organization to re-purpose a former military ship now sinking in the Monterey Bay into an eco-art park to educate the public and raise awareness on ocean health. Rich moved to Seattle in 2016 and completed a Masters of Landscape Architecture in 2019 – seeking to meld his love of working with people with creative and grounded design of socially and ecologically healthy places. After graduating, Rich continued to hone his design skills working with public artists Haddad|Drugan and spent three years teaching in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. He is eager to return to working with the ocean and the people who call its shores home alongside Pacific Conservation District as a Coastal Resilience Fellow.
Congratulations, fellows! We can’t wait to see what you accomplish.
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Washington Sea Grant, based at the University of Washington, helps people and marine life thrive through research, technical expertise and education supporting the responsible use and conservation of coastal ecosystems. Washington Sea Grant is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of our marine resources through research, education, outreach and technology transfer.
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SEP
2025