OSU alumni share about their careers that center around and make an impact on areas like water resources, clean oceans, marine wildlife and more.

Ashley Hann, M.S. ’21, works as an interagency and international policy liaison with the oceanographer of the Navy through the NOAA Knauss Fellowship. While earning her master’s in marine resource management at Oregon State, Ashley focused on researching the use of autonomous systems to detect changes in Antarctic marine ecosystems, and spent three months in Antarctica as part of her research. She was also a 2019-20 Provost Distinguished Graduate Fellowship recipient. Before graduate school, Ashley worked as an outdoor educator. She aims to incorporate outreach and engagement into everything she does, especially if it means helping others connect with the ocean.

Ashley Peiffer, M.S. '21, has been with the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) network of 11 Regional Associations, U.S. IOOS Program Office and IOOS Association for the past year, providing program development and strategic leadership in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives through a DEIA Fellowship. Ashley earned a master’s degree in Marine Resource Management at Oregon State. Prior to OSU, she worked on science education, food security and gender equity issues as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania.

E. Lynn Porta, M.S. ’21, is an energy and climate analyst at Concurrent Technologies Corporation, supporting the Department of the Air Force. She previously worked at the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, supporting Northeast USA regional transboundary efforts to protect and improve the quality of source waters and integrate Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act programs at the state and federal levels. Lynn is one of the co-founders and current USA co-president of the North American Youth Parliament for Water, which she helped to found during her time at Oregon State University. NAYPW works to support the visibility and inclusion of youth and young professionals (ages 18-35) in water resource decision-making spaces across North America/Turtle Island, in support of the continent's progress to achieving SDG 6.

Since OSU, Nilza Sonam Chodon, M.S. ’20, has put her master's degree in physical oceanography to use through technical customer support at Sea-Bird Scientific (SBS), a leading developer and manufacturer of tools used by ocean researchers. Nilza focuses on answering instrumentation, instrumentation application and CTD data-related customer questions. Nilza's role at SBS encourages collaboration with different teams within the company to provide customers with the best user experience.

As a hydrologic technician for the U.S. Geological Survey, Ben Thorpe, ’13, measures streams in Southwestern Oregon. Prior to working for USGS, he was an SWR well inspector for Oregon Water Resources Department, where he collaborated with well drillers and landowners and offered insight into regional geology to ensure wells were in compliance with regulations.