Michaela grew up on the coast in New England as tidal pool explorer and an avid architect of the sand. Since those days, she has worked to understand the connection between the ocean and the communities who depend on it and how to use scientific and conservation tools to guide decision making and reduce user conflicts in marine resource management. At SFG, she works with partners to integrate innovative science and modeling into on-the-ground projects. Prior to working at SFG, she was a 2012 Sea Grant Knauss Fellow in the Program Coordination Office in NOAA Headquarters in Washington, DC. She received her BS in biology and environmental science from the University of Richmond and her Master's degree in coastal marine resource management from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB. Her graduate work focused on marine spatial planning and bio-economic modeling for offshore shrimp aquaculture in Mexico. Michaela has also previously worked with Bren as the Latin American Fisheries Fellowship (LAFF) Coordinator, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Study of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) on the Science of Marine Reserves team, the National Marine Fisheries Service on the role of MPAs in resource management in the Caribbean, and as a corporate recruiter for bio-pharmaceutical companies in Boston.