2022 SOST Opportunities and Actions Roundtable Submissions
Summary: The New England Aquarium (Aquarium) serves as a responsive community resource that attracts and involves the broadest possible audience; seeks a culturally diverse staff and governing board that reflect our community; adheres to the highest standards of animal stewardship; and is committed to delivering the highest quality visitor experience in a welcoming and enjoyable manner that inspires awe, curiosity, understanding, caring, and action. The Aquarium also provides mentors, experts, facilities, labs, and field-testing opportunities to guide start-ups and corporations, and is the only ocean focused, non-profit institution in the hub of Boston. Through its BalanceBLUE Lab, the Aquarium offers its technical expertise and network to young professionals in ocean conservation to ensure a diverse, inclusive, and equitable “blue” workforce of the future. This initiative builds capacities in the New England blue innovation ecosystem so as to enable entrepreneurs, firms, and industries to drive towards ocean sustainability goals and climate adaptability. Building off decades of experience, partnerships, and deep technical and scientific expertise, the Aquarium is the objective ocean conservation voice for New England in aquaculture, offshore wind, fisheries, shipping, marine spatial planning, marine mammals, environmental impact assessment, climate adaptation and resiliency. BalanceBLUE Lab’s Blue Work of the Future program provides opportunities for the community to engage in blue innovation and gain mentoring and on the job training. This ability stems from the Aquarium’s:
- Marine Conservation Action Fund – an international, capacity development program for early career ocean professionals,
- Climateens – teen internship program for those focused on learning about climate change and contributing to solutions,
- Virtual and on-site education – Aquarium exhibit path reaches 1.4 million visitors per year,
- Teen internship program (mostly Boston and Cambridge),
- Volunteer and college internship program – HS and college students during winter and summer vacations, HS students year-round,
- Community (Boston-based) programs – e.g., women and girls in science,
- The live blue™ Ambassador program (teens) – a service learning program to teach teens to further the Aquarium’s mission beyond its campus,
- Business interns – e.g., Sloane/MIT fellowship, and
- Partnerships with University of Massachusetts, Boston (UMB) – graduate student program, and Cape Eleuthera and Island School – intern/grad student capability.
The federal government can partner with organizations like the Aquarium to help build up some of these programs or internships or even to collaborate on pilot projects between government and marine science and conservation non-profits, to continue diversifying and developing the “blue” workforce, using government labor market trends and forecasting to help design these pilots. An example project would be a collaboration between the Department of Labor, SOST/OST members, and organizations like the Aquarium to regulate standards for new “blue” apprenticeships in areas such as offshore wind energy development.
Sector: Academia, NGO
Organization: Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium
POC: John Mandelman, jmandelman@neaq.org
Other Contacts: Michelle Cho, mcho@neaq.org