Courtney Gerstenmaier

Courtney Gerstenmaier is a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow spending her time jointly with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the NOAA Fisheries Communication Office. She is working with the ocean education and outreach team at NMNH focusing on the topics of climate change and fisheries. Courtney’s love of water started at young age when her family took her to a lake in Michigan and overtime this love transitioned into a love for the ocean. She received her undergraduate and masters degrees in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston, where she worked on the impacts of a non-native species of seaweed on a southeastern mudflat. Courtney is really interested in species interactions and what happens when something disturbs their natural equilibrium. Her favorite sea creatures are spotted eagle rays, whale sharks, and deep sea isopods and amphipods.