Science Scholars

NYSERDA Fellows

NYSERDA Fellow

AJ Makaba

NYSERDA Fellow

AJ Makaba

The New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) has funded a doctoral student fellowship to support research objectives that align with previously-identified ROSA research priorities (ROSA Gap Analysis 2024), centered around offshore wind and sea scallops.

AJ Mabaka is a doctoral student who received the fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year. He is a student at Stony Brook University under advisement of Dr. Yong Chen. ROSA’s Research Director, Dr. Mike Pol is advising and supporting NYSERDA and AJ on this project.

ROSA Interns

Each summer, ROSA brings on promising graduate students to:

  • Gain hands-on experience in fisheries science, data governance, and environmental monitoring;
  • Work closely with researchers, managers, and fishing communities on real regional issues;
  • Contribute to projects that inform ocean development, ecosystem protection, and sustainable ocean policy.

Why It Matters
Interns gain invaluable mentorship, build technical skills, and often go on to careers in marine science, environmental policy, or academia. At the same time, ROSA benefits from new ideas and capacity that help accelerate research and monitoring efforts across the region.

ROSA Intern

Will Shoup
ROSA Intern

Nusrat Noor
ROSA Intern

Delaney McBride
ROSA Interns

Maryam Krauss
ROSA Intern

Victoria Newton

ROSA Intern

Will Shoup

Will was ROSA’s first intern! He completed his Master’s degree at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and during his 2022 summer with ROSA, provided vital support to an Advanced Sampling Techniques workshop and completed an investigation into data accessibility and compatibility. Will leveraged his ROSA connections to an exciting position at Sea Risk Solutions as a fisheries liaison for the Beacon Wind project, and now works as a Stakeholder Relations Associate at Invenergy.

Will’s Poster

ROSA Intern

Nusrat Noor

Nusrat joined ROSA in the summer of 2024 and created an annotated bibliography of benthic monitoring to inform updates to ROSA’s Offshore Wind Project Monitoring Framework and Guidelines. At the time, Nusrat was in her second year pursuing a Master of Environmental Management degree at the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment. She is currently on track to graduate in 2025.

Nusrat’s annotated bibliography slides

ROSA Intern

Delaney McBride

Delaney came to the ROSA team from University of North Carolina – Wilmington, where she completed dual Master Degrees in Environmental Science and Public Administration. She is currently a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the U.S. Department of Energy. During her summer 2024 internship with ROSA, Delaney created an annotated bibliography for socioeconomic monitoring related to offshore wind development. She also continued her work with ROSA through a capstone project through the Fall of 2024 assessing the impact of ROSA’s Monitoring Guidelines on offshore wind project development.

Delaney’s Final Report

ROSA Interns

Maryam Krauss

Maryam is in her second year of the Master of Environmental Management degree at Duke University. She is concentrating in Coastal and Marine Systems, Community Engagement, and Environmental Justice. During her summer internship with ROSA, Maryam worked on a literature review for Cumulative Impacts assessments, and also supported the formal Peer Review of the Gaps Analysis.

ROSA Intern

Victoria Newton

Tori is working on her Master’s degree in Environmental Management at Duke University. While working at ROSA, Tori also interned with NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office’s North Atlantic Right Whale Team. Tori designed and helped to draft all of the Project Fact sheets on our new Awarded Projects page.