Shelby Butz, a May 2019 graduate of the Arnold School’s Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences program, has been chosen to join the 41st class of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. Based in Washington, D.C., the program is offered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Sea Grant Office.
Butz’s one-year appointment is unique within the Fellowship in that it will be a dual appointment between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coastal States Organization, a non-profit organization, where she will gain hands-on experience transferring science to policy and management. Though joining the program is a dream come true for Butz, making the decision wasn’t an easy one.
The well-rounded scientist had many options following her graduation, including a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in a Florida-based marine ecotoxicology lab. Drawn to the ocean since she was a child, Butz has traveled the world conducting research to better understand and protect marine environments.
The Norman J. Arnold Doctoral Fellow has studied in Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Colorado, and Australia and has presented her work at international conferences. Prior to that, she completed bachelor’s (Coastal Carolina University) and master’s (UofSC) degrees in marine sciences with nearly perfect GPAs and graduated with a 4.0 from her Ph.D. program.
While Butz's research experiences have been many and varied, her scientific home base has been the South Carolina SmartState Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk (CENR) under the tutelage of SmartState Endowed Chair and CENR director Jamie Lead. Working alongside her mentor, Butz delved into the field of nanoscience – incorporating it into her marine science research throughout her doctoral program. Read more here.