Marine Fellows

Pew Announces 2026 Marine Fellows

Program adds 7 leading scientists to its distinguished global community

This year’s fellows are:

	Suchana Apple Chavanich, Ph.D., Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Suchana Apple Chavanich will develop and apply innovative methods to advance reef restoration in Southeast Asia, a region with some of the world’s richest coral diversity. Working in Thailand, Chavanich will refine techniques for producing new corals through sexual propagation and banking frozen coral sperm and eggs—critical methods for preserving the genetic health of restored populations.
	Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University, Canada Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor will develop a replicable framework to identify the social connections that shape markets in the ocean economy, facilitating the design and implementation of local-scale incentives for conservation. Working with three fishing communities in Sonora, Mexico, Cisneros-Montemayor will apply this framework, conducting field interviews and community engagement workshops to map and understand the layered interactions that influence economic decision-making.
	Win Cowger, Ph.D., Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research, United States Pew-Gerstner Fellow in Ocean Plastics Research Win Cowger will enhance the capabilities of Open Specy, an open-source tool he developed to help researchers worldwide classify and analyze different types of plastic pollution. He will build a robust reference library and develop new algorithms to improve the identification of nanoplastics, small microplastics, and plastic leachates in the marine environment.
	Nur Arafeh-Dalmau, Ph.D., University of Queensland, Australia Nur Arafeh-Dalmau will collaborate with partners in California, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina to identify and map resilient kelp forest ecosystems. Using satellite imagery, ecological surveys, and environmental DNA, Arafeh-Dalmau will analyze biodiversity patterns in persistent kelp forests and test their resilience to marine heat waves.
	Matthew Gribble, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, United States Pew-Hoover Fellow in Marine and Biomedical Science Matthew Gribble will apply an advanced statistical technique called a hidden Markov model to better understand the dynamics of toxin-producing algal blooms. His work will focus on southeast Alaska, where Alaska Native communities have been repeatedly affected by harmful algal blooms, and Andalucia, Spain. Gribble will determine how often areas have been exposed to algal blooms in the past, supporting insights into the health effects of harmful algal toxin exposure.
	Shaili Johri, Ph.D., Stanford University, United States Shaili Johri will use advanced genetic tools to strengthen seafood traceability and combat illegal fishing. By analyzing fine-scale differences in individual animals’ DNA, her research will help pinpoint the geographic origins of traded species. Focusing on reef sharks, Johri will develop low-cost, rapid, and accurate genetic and visual identification methods to identify shark fishing hot spots across the Western Indian Ocean and detect instances of illegal fishing.
	Namhee Kwon, Ph.D., Kansai University, Japan Namhee Kwon will analyze the effectiveness and limitations of existing agreements in managing shared fish stocks, with the goal of identifying institutional and legal reforms that are both politically viable and ecologically sustainable. Focusing on agreements among South Korea, Japan, and China, Kwon will examine the legal architecture of each agreement, obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and implementation of these agreements within each country’s domestic system.