Graduate students aim to change environmental policy

02/06/09 - Among the members of Congress and government employees on their way to work this morning are two energetic University of Rhode Island graduate students on their way to changing environmental policy. As part of the Rhode Island Sea Grant program, Nicholas Battista and Kate Mulvaney are working on a yearlong scholarship to study governmental marine law.

The Sea Grant, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, acts as a research funding body. It funds fishery and marine programs on select campuses in coastal and great lakes states.

Through the grant, Battista and Mulvaney were able to obtain a Knauss Fellowship. The prestigious award was named after John Knauss, the dean of oceanography at URI.

"Nationally, he was one of the guys who really started the study of ocean and marine affairs," Battista said. Knauss was part of the early ocean conservation movements. "He said we had to be concerned about our oceans, and we still are."

As graduate students, Mulvaney and Battista applied for the scholarship through the state, which then chose six applicants to be entered into a national pool of potential Fellows. In total, 48 students were chosen to go to Washington.

"It's all very representative of the country," Battista said. Mulvaney's focus during her stay in Washington will be with the Department of State Bureau of Ocean International Environment and Science Office of Marine Conservation.

Mulvaney said her primary responsibilities are looking at international fishery treaties that the United States are a part of, or may want to join in the future. "We also look at agreements between the United States and other countries regarding fisheries," she said.

Working with the executive branch of the government, Battista, a Maine resident, has the opportunity to collaborate with his hometown Congress representative, Chellie Pingree.

"I'm focused on a lot of legislation that is involved in environmental law. It's more the creation of law and working with nonprofit environmental groups," Battista said.

With Pingree's guidance, Battista gets to examine current and impending laws and Supreme Court decisions that have had a severe impact on the environmental landscape.

Both credit their Knauss Fellowship to the one-of-a-kind educational experience in the marine affairs program at URI.

In a joint program between URI and the Roger Williams School of Law, Battista earned a master's degree in marine affairs as well as a law degree.

"It's a really interesting program," Battista said.

The exceptional two-part program is something unique to the University of Rhode Island. "I know a lot of people in the Fellowship are jealous that Nick got to do both [degrees]," Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney received a master of arts in marine affairs, which she said helped her gain the global knowledge necessary to work within the government. For her place in the Fellowship, a solid understanding of global environmentalism was crucial.

"My thesis was on the fishery in the Philippines that gave me a strong international background," she said.

As a student, Mulvaney studied abroad extensively in Mexico, Jamaica, Belize, Rome, the Azores and China. She said her time traveling around the world helped her gain perspective about international environmental issues.

"It gave me a much better understanding about international fisheries and environmental conservation issues," Mulvaney said. "It was good for me because it gave me a lot of hands on experience. It gave me grounded insight to how it all really works."

She also volunteered in the Peace Corps, which brought her to the Philippines, a time she remembers fondly.

"I was in the Philippines for the longest, and it will always have a special place in my heart. I lived in a tropical paradise," she said with a laugh.

The Fellowship, which has just started, gives both Mulvaney and Battista the chance to get hands-on experience in government environmental policy.

"The Fellowship gives us an opportunity to be placed higher in that world, much higher than we would have been without the fellowship. We get a sneak peak at what happens at the top of the game," said Battista.

As for the enthusiastic roommates' yearlong goals, those have yet to be determined.

"Well, we just got here," Battista said.

"I know I would like to end marine pollution and save the turtles and the whales and I'll tell you how that all works out. And Nick will solve all the domestic issues and I'll have international down," Mulvaney said jokingly.

For both of them, it seems that URI has been the stepping-stone toward real change.

"It's just cool to be wandering around DC and having a hand in marine policy. It's not something you expect when you're sitting in the library at URI," Battista said.