University of Rhode Island professor Emi Uchida was awarded a $150,000 Pew Marine Fellowship this year, to head a research program studying mangrove and seagrass ecosystems and their social impacts in Indonesia.
The Pew Organization is a nonprofit and non-government affiliated organization that funds different research projects around the world based in the United States. Uchida was awarded the fellowship among a global community of applicants. She is now one of six 2024 marine fellows and is now able to study something she has been interested in for a long time.
“With this fellowship it allows me to do research that I have always wanted to do in Indonesia, in the context of mangrove and seagrass conservation, so I’m very very excited about this opportunity,” Uchida said.
Mangrove forests and seagrass beds are widely distributed tropical and subtropical marine ecosystems that harbor many different species of marine life. Uchida is studying various aspects of this ecosystem in Indonesia’s tropical archipelago.
“Together with coral reefs, [mangroves and seagrasses] provide lots of really valuable goods and services to local communities, local economy and to the global population,” Uchida said.
Mangroves in particular are gathering attention from people interested in blue carbon, Uchida said. They have the ability to sequester carbon. Carbon sequestration is the absorption and contaminant of carbon dioxide in organisms. This means they have a net loss of carbon dioxide in the system which is something many scientists are looking for.
This is one of the ways scientists think they can help reduce the total load of carbon in the atmosphere. With the marine fellowship, Uchida is also studying the threats to mangrove conservation and restoration.
In an interdisciplinary study, Uchida hopes to find a connection between the marine ecosystem and the people that live around it. Indonesia has a growing population and is currently the fourth most populated country in the world.
Uchida is looking to find how the marine ecosystem’s large growing population is changing and its economic impacts.
“My overall career goal is to find solutions that can work for both environmental sustainability and poverty reduction,” Uchida said.
Uchida said she got her interdisciplinary mindset from her graduate work at Duke University. Along with taking economics and sustainability courses, she also took courses in ecology and other natural sciences. This experience influenced her interests and her career.
“Over the years, my appreciation for other fields grew,” Uchida said.
Uchida is currently a professor and chair of URI’s Environmental and Natural Resource Economics department and has been at the University for 18 years.
“I’m also really grateful for URI to have established this really strong and multifaceted collaboration with different kinds of government, universities and with communities in Indonesia because these projects would never have happened without that partnership,” Uchida said.
As faculty in the Environmental and Natural Resource Economics department, she helps students with their career path and development research questions, Uchida said. This can be important as a student goes further into the field and applies coursework.
“I think that the starting point is to be curious and find a problem that you’re really passionate about,” Uchida said.
For more information on Uchida’s marine fellowship and her colleagues research, interested readers can visit Pew’s official write and recognition of the award fellowship at pewtrusts.org and view a promonial video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50c1tOqyuD0 .
For more information on URI’s Environmental and Natural Resource Economics department, interested individuals can follow their department website at web.uri.edu/enre .