SCEMFIS Graduate Student Receives Knauss Fellowship

Autumn Moya, a graduate student at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), is ready to step into the world of marine policy after receiving a prestigious award from the 2025 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship in Washington, D.C. This one-year paid fellowship allows students to work with government officials in the executive and legislative branches to bring insights on coastal policy work.

She is working with Dr. Eric Powell to better understand the effects offshore wind energy developments could have on the future of the Atlantic surfclam fishery. Her research is focused on the Northeast US Continental Shelf, where near-term offshore wind energy areas are projected to overlap with commercially important species of clams. Autumn is modeling the potential habitat distribution of these clams for different scenarios of the offshore wind projects. This will be further analyzed for future impacts on the Atlantic surfclam fishery with the Spatially Explicit Fishery Economics Simulator (SEFES). She is interested in the implications of ocean multi-use with respect to the sustainability of marine fisheries and how these industries can successfully work with renewable energy developments.

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