Cassandra Brooks has worked in marine science and public outreach for more than fifteen years. Her writing and research focuses on marine resource exploitation worldwide, from local New England Rivers to the remote reaches of Antarctica. Currently, she is a fourth year PhD Candidate studying international ocean policy, focusing on marine protection in the Antarctic, which is mandated by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Specifically, her research questions are: What are the major factors that have influenced CCAMLR’s process for marine protection? What are the trade offs considered when negotiating and adopting Southern Ocean marine protected areas? And finally, what are the exemplary qualities that make CCAMLR successful at managing international marine living resources?
Cassandra has worked in the lab, underwater, and at sea and has presented her work at conferences and workshops both nationally and internationally, while publishing in peer-reviewed journals. She’s toiled as a federal fisheries observer on New England groundfish boats and spent a number of years devoted to wilderness therapy and environmental education throughout the United States. Over the years, she’s also worked in traditional ecological knowledge - from uncovering the details of the first documented dam protest in New England to investigating the precolonial cod fishery history. During her Master's graduate work at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, she studied life history of Antarctic toothfish, one of two species known as “Chilean sea bass.” The Ross Sea population she investigated supports the most remote fishery on Earth.
To gain true expertise in communicating science to the public, Cassandra completed a Graduate Certificate in Science Communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2009. As an established science writer and multi-media producer, she has published articles and multi-media about marine science, the environment and human well-being in local, national and international outlets. Prior to returning to school, she worked with the Last Ocean Project to produce media and support outreach to promote policy designed to protect ecologically important regions of the globe like the Ross Sea, Antarctica. She’s also worked with conservation non-profits writing policy reports identifying important areas for marine protection in the Antarctic and elsewhere. She currently contributes to the National Geographic's Ocean Views Blog.
In 2012, Cassandra returned to school to pursue an interdisciplinary PhD at Stanford, seeking expertise in policy and management. For her dissertation, she is studying marine protection in the Antarctic, trying to better understand what it takes to do ocean conservation on an international scale. In the future, she hopes to work at the intersection of science, policy and the public, applying what she’s learned to other ocean regions in need of sustainable management.
Cassandra is funded through the Bill and Eva Price Fellowship and was recently awarded a Switzer Fellowship.
To see Cassandra's research publications and popular media, please see her CV or personal website.