Melissa Poe
Social Scientist, Washington Sea Grant
Dr. Melissa Poe is a social scientist and leads the Integrated Knowledge and Education Team at Washington Sea Grant at the University of Washington. She manages and conducts a program of community-based action research, outreach and engagement, and education with coastal communities. Melissa collaborates with Northwest Tribes, First Nations, and Indigenous communities of the Pacific on place-based cultural-ecosystems (such as clam gardens and herring spawn on kelp), climate and ocean change resilience, and food sovereignty. She currently leads the Cross-Pacific Indigenous Aquaculture Collaborative and co-leads the Olympic Coast Ocean Acidification Vulnerability and Resilience Assessment.
Melissa earned a PhD in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Washington, with a specialization in ethnoecology, Indigenous resource management, community-based participatory action research, food systems, and well-being.