Sarah Lester, PhD

title, description
principal investigator, Florida State University - Lester Lab

Dr. Sarah Lester is an associate professor in the Department of Geography at Florida State University (FSU). Her research interests include marine conservation and protected areas, natural resource management and policy, marine spatial planning and ocean zoning, sustainable seafood, fisheries management, and biogeography. Ongoing research projects focus on understanding spatial and temporal patterns of mariculture development globally and in the United States, the effectiveness of marine protected areas, developing spatial planning approaches to inform mariculture siting and ecosystem restoration, and designing ocean zoning and fisheries management around small island states, among others – she applies an interdisciplinary lens to all of these research topics. She received her PhD in marine ecology from the University of California Santa Barbara, and prior to coming to FSU, was the Research and Program Director of the Sustainable Fisheries Group at UCSB.

Ashley Buzzell

operations advisor + Scheduler

Ashley Buzzell brings over 15 years public and private sector experience in the fields of operations, public affairs, strategic communications, stakeholder management and relationship building. She started her career as the head intern in Secretary Rumsfeld’s public affairs office. Immediately following she served on a presidential commission and was recognized as the youngest person to testify under oath at the commission’s final deliberations. She brings a multitude of experience in business operations planning and execution, event management, internal and external communications, and strategic stakeholder management. She lives in Ocean Beach, Calif. where she plays golf, tennis, dances and spends time with her rescue dog, Jetty.