Knauss Fellow Profile: Katie Sperry
Hometown: Northampton, Massachusetts
Area of research focus/interest: Restoration ecology of coastal habitats
What are you doing during your Knauss Fellowship?
I’m placed in NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation’s Restoration Center (RC) for my Knauss Fellowship. Here, I get to see how ecosystem restoration is coordinated and funded at a federal level. Critically, the RC’s work supports the health and long-term viability of our fisheries by ensuring the species we rely on have sufficient and functional habitat. You can see all of our projects here (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/map/restoration-atlas), and there are great articles on projects like a Cranberry Bog restoration in WHOI’s backyard (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/cape-cod-cranberry-bog-project-restoring-wetlands-and-fish-passage-river-herring) on the office’s website.
Within the RC I am involved in several projects, including helping to identify key monitoring opportunities to ensure that we are learning as much as we can from restoration efforts. Learning is essential, as it means that the investments in these projects are not only resulting in improvements to fisheries habitat today but also help us do it even better tomorrow.
What has been the most positive part of being a Fellow? How about the most challenging?
Seeing how many places and people are somehow involved in these restoration projects has been incredible. There are projects all across America – from Cape Cod, down to Louisiana, and up to Michigan. Projects are often collaborations between organizations, companies, and communities, and they create jobs and foster connections across sectors. Seeing the wide reach of the work has been so great, and watching how dedicated my colleagues are to the moving these projects along has been incredibly inspiring.
The most challenging part is quite difficult to pinpoint; there have been many.
What’s one thing you’ve learned during your time in Washington, D.C. that has surprised you?
Everyone says that the federal government is slow. It’s been enlightening to see that, sometimes, things can happen quite quickly.
What was the last thing you read?
The last book I finished was “Small Things Like These”, by Claire Keegan. It’s a short, beautiful novel. I’d highly recommend it.
Got any podcast recommendations?
Most of the podcasts I listen to are about track and field; I’ll give a shoutout to the Coffee Club Podcast.
Who has been your inspiration?
I’ve got to be cliché and say my parents. They’re both social workers and watching them as I grew up made clear to me that one of the most important things I can do with my life is helping others. For me, working to conserve and restore ecosystems is all about contributing to a better world.
What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever visited and why?
The most interesting place I’ve ever gone is probably my backyard when I was a kid. What made it so interesting wasn’t the place itself, I guess, but how open and curious my brain was. There were a couple of pine trees behind our garage, but I swear it was an epic enchanted forest when my friends and I would play there.
Also, the Great Barrier Reef was pretty sick.
What is something about you that people would be surprised to learn about you?
I’ve never seen the Lion King.
What’s your favorite quote from a book/movie or TV show?
"If I can’t scuba, then what’s this all been about?” – Creed Bratton, The Office
What are your plans post-fellowship?
After the Knauss fellowship, I plan to do a postdoc to continue developing my research skills. I’m currently preoccupied with questions about where plants for ecosystem restoration come from and what sourcing decisions mean for ecological outcomes and restoration success more broadly. So, studying something along those lines would be great. I’m also interested in doing a manipulative field experiment, as that type of work didn’t end up being part of my PhD research and I’d love to get that experience.
What would be your number one recommendation to a younger version of your self?
Gosh, probably just, “calm down”.
Cats or Dogs?
Dogs. Specifically, any dog I get to pet.