Thesis or Project Title: Social Science Research to Help Advance Regional Coordination and Collaboration of Sea Level Rise Planning and Adaptation on Humboldt Bay

Advisor: Dr. Laurie Richmond

During Kristen's time in the natural resources graduate program she exhibited academic excellence and showed a commitment to developing rigorous, applied research that benefits the community and is already being applied in local planning activities. She also contributed considerable service to the department, campus, and broader community during her time as a graduate student.  She is extremely well-rounded as a scholar and used the Masters time to successfully build a new layer of skills that could be integrated into her professional career. Kristen’s thesis is among the most ambitious and applied thesis projects that her thesis advisor has overseen. Kristen embarked on a thesis project related to the social dynamics of sea level rise (SLR) planning on Wigi or Humboldt Bay. Kristen developed this thesis idea and applied for and received a grant - an $80,000 California Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellowship - to support the completion of this research idea. Her thesis was highly ambitious and rigorous - incorporating both interviews with 46 different individuals connected to the SLR issue on Humboldt Bay as well as an online survey of 107 people connected to SLR planning. Her advisor has never had a student collect more data and be more robust in their research approach.  In addition to completing her thesis, she developed a report summarizing the survey findings for the county. Her work was explicitly connected to community needs and even as she was finishing her analysis, local government planners were already starting to use her findings to inform their planning efforts. Her thesis defense was attended by over 45 coastal planners and officials who attended eagerly interested in her findings and asking lots of questions. Kristen was engaged in many service activities outside of her thesis work during her time at HSU. She joined the HSU Sea Level Rise Initiative which is a group of HSU and community collaborators working together across disciplines, sectors, and ways of knowing to develop sea-level rise research and planning that informs equitable, sustainable, and community-centered local climate action. She took on the role of secretary in the organization and became instrumental in its operation. She helped to develop a logo and flesh out the website for the entity (www.humboldtslri.org). She is a once in a generation student who has done thesis work that will actively make our community better and more planned for SLR impacts. The ESM strongly supports her nomination for this award!