Maria Grima, Former M.S. Student
Like many of our other team members, Maria has had a long relationship with IOCS. In the summer of her junior year at Stony Brook University (SBU), Maria met us through our partnership with the JFEW-SUNY Global Affairs Leadership Program. As a scholar of this program, she had the opportunity to observe and participate in the world of international ocean policy, where her interest in the Sustainable Development Goals was sparked. In May 2018, she graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, with a concentration in Physical Anthropology and minors in Marine Science and Geospatial Science (GIS). She earned much of her degree by participating in field schools in Southampton, Kenya, and Madagascar. These immersive, hands-on experiences set her on the path to work in environmental conservation and research.
Before returning to SBU to work with us on her master's degree, Maria served as our Project Aide, where she created media content, organized and led outreach events, and built an online platform to visually highlight our Marine Priority Areas project results. She worked and continues to work closely with our ShiRP Project by attending trawls, processing Baited Remote Underwater Videos, and organizing data.
Maria is our in-house GIS expert and takes care of our mapping needs across a variety of projects, including evaluating marine protected areas in China. She loves using maps to tell conservation stories, and is eager to share her skills with others through workshops and consulting!