August 05, 2014

Alumni Portrait of Anthony Shiao JD 2011:

He is currently completing a fellowship at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and has learned how to mesh science and law. 

Anthony Shiao JD ’11 is currently completing a fellowship at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.  Read about a day in the life of his California Sea Grant Fellowship and how Shiao kicked off his career in his blog post on Sea Grant California.

Excerpts from the blog post.

On Starting His Career

Anthony describes it this way, “there I was, armed with a master’s degree from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a law degree from Lewis & Clark with very limited idea on how to start my career. The California Sea Grant State Fellowship is an incredible opportunity for me. Here at the Department of Fish and Wildlife I not only have the chance to hone both my legal and scientific skills, but I can actually learn how to integrate the two fields into practical policy instruments. For example, the drafting of a fishery management plan, which occupied the first several months of my fellowship, demands both compliance with the relevant regulatory and management mandates and incorporation of a scientifically-informed adaptive management framework.”

The Fellowship Work

Describing the work he did, Anthony said, “the nature of the work here at the Department of Fish and Wildlife is incredibly meaningful. The position offers me a chance to serve the public on an incredibly diverse and challenging subject. It gives me the privilege of working with other incredible individuals, including scientists, lawyers, and managers to tackle issues with numerous scientific, legal, political, and policy complexities. Every day brings a new challenge, and every challenge requires the abilities to work as part of a team, to learn with diligence, and to innovate using all of one’s available resources, training, and experience.”

“I am constantly grateful for this opportunity. For the other recently graduated young professionals interested in ocean-related policy issues who are not afraid to innovate and to overcome adversities, the CA Sea Grant State Fellowship will no doubt be an ideal first step,” said Shiao.

My Morning Routine

9:00 am: combing through a week-old e-mail exchange with an environmental scientist within the department while slowly sipping a mug of coffee that was a bit too much on the strong side. The discussion was 5+ page-long and centered on the structure and characteristics of a fishery population model.

10:00 am: sifting through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) Code for the DFW Commission’s authority to spatially manage recreational history.

11:00 am: filling out a standardized intra-department regulatory change proposal for an impending regulatory package.

And that was just a single morning from a single day of my fellowship.

Hectic?

Sometimes.

Schizophrenic?

A little, and not in a bad way.

Exciting?

Oh yeah.

 

The California fellowship is only open to graduates from California.  The Oregonian counterpart can be found at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/education/fellowships.