Anne R. Kapuscinski is a Professor in the Environmental Studies Department and Director of the Coastal Science and Policy Program. She is an interdisciplinary scholar committed to finding scientifically and socially robust solutions to a major challenge: how to perpetuate healthy aquatic ecosystems while sustaining resource uses that support human well-being. Her past research examined impacts of dams, fish hatcheries, aquaculture and genetic engineering on fish conservation. Her current research aims to shift aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector, towards sustainability. Her team uses marine microalgae to achieve fish-free feeds, thus decouple aquaculture from ocean-caught forage fish, reduce nutrient and carbon emissions and improve food security. She also pursues ecological aquaculture strategies to close water and nutrient loops and conserve biodiversity. Anne participates actively in the science-policy interface, presently as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Union of Concerned Scientists and member of the Ocean Protection Council Science Advisory Team, and has been a scientific advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (under three administrations), U.S. Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Global Environment Facility, European Union Food Safety Agency, state of Minnesota, and on four U.S. National Academy of Science committees. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Sustainability Transitions domain of the open-access journal, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. Her awards include a 2019 Ocean Award in Innovation, Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, and Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Conservation Biology, among others. As Director of the Coastal Science and Policy Program, Anne guides and builds a diverse, inclusive community of students, faculty and partners to pursue scalable solutions to pressing coastal and ocean challenges. – Click here to view Dr. Kapuscinski’s short CV and watch Anne describe her research here.
Dr. Kapuscinski’s Courses:
CSP 244 Adaptation and Planning
Introduces students to conceptual frameworks for developing solutions to coastal sustainability problems, and drawing on knowledge and skills gained in previous coastal science and policy courses to perform an integrated assessment of a coastal sustainability problem.
CSP281A Hacking for Oceans – Spring 2020
The first course in the USA to teach Lean Launchpad and Lean Design techniques for solving complex problems critical to saving oceans and coast.
CSP 231A Year 1 Capstone Planning & Design Fall – Fall 2020 Time TBD
Students learn and apply methods for designing scalable solutions to complex problems, focusing on sustainability challenges and opportunities in coastal areas. Sessions primarily involve peer-review and feedback on student progress in planning their individual Coastal Science and Policy (CSP) capstone project. The capstone project must engage with a real-world partner(s) on a scalable opportunity for solving a critical problem in coastal areas (from land to sea). Faculty lead mini-lectures as needed. Course stresses learning-by-doing: weekly assignments have students work outside of class on steps or skills in the design process and then the student shares their work in the following class to gain peer insights.
CSP 231B CSP Year 1 Capstone Planning & Design Winter – Winter 2021 Time TBD
Picks up where the fall capstone planning seminar ended. Students continue designing capstone project for pursuing a scalable solution to a complex and pressing coastal sustainability problem. Winter focus is learning and applying strategies and methods to: (a) co-create a capstone project with a non-academic partner in the government, non-governmental or private sector; and (b) develop and submit successful funding proposals for the project. Methods learned apply broadly to collaborative, solutions-oriented work that may be pursued after graduation.
Pallab Sarker is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Department at UCSC. His research interests involve shifting aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector, to sustainability by redesigning the composition of aqua-feeds because they drive life-cycle environmental effects of aquaculture, both inputs and emissions (pollution). Shifting aquafeeds to more sustainable ingredients is a key part of sustainable aquaculture. He is interested in developing ecological aquaculture principles and practices. The main focus of his current research is to develop a fish-free and crop-free aquaculture diet by combining different species of micro- and macro-algae and developing targeted biochemical manipulations to maximize the diet’s nutrient quality, economic viability, and benefits for environmental conservation. Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food industry in the world, now producing more edible biomass than wild seafood for humans, making it a fundamental part of future food production. Although aquaculture contributes significantly to the animal protein consumption on a global scale, it raises important questions in the realm of sustainability science. Aquaculture is increasingly dependent on terrestrial crops (soy, corn) and wild fish (fishmeal and fish oil extracted from small ocean fish or “forage fish,” such as anchovy) for feeds—deeply unsustainable—and damaging to aquatic ecosystems. Aquafeeds now use over 70% of the world’s fishmeal and fish oil from unsustainably-sourced forage fish. Large-scale diversion and overfishing pose several environmentally unsustainable consequences. Aquafeeds also contain large amounts of soy and corn ingredients obtained from industrial farms that cause significant environmental damage, especially eutrophication of rivers, lakes and coastal waters; have deficiencies in key essential amino acids; and, for their oils, lack health-promoting long-chain Omega-3s EPA and DHA. Moreover, fish cannot fully digest phosphorus content of fishmeal, soy, and corn, and this elevates nutrient pollution in aquaculture effluents. Dr. Sarker is on the cutting edge of research on the issue as one of very few scientists in his field dedicated to innovating a sustainable aquafeed that address both the problems of sourcing and waste streams. His ongoing projects examine the in vivo and in vitro digestibility of different marine algae/co-products and their incorporation in tilapia and salmonids feed formulae to eliminate the use of industrial crops and forage fish in aquafeed to foster environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially responsible aquaculture while assuring human health benefits of fish raised on these diets. Marine algae are excellent sources of essential amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids that meet the requirements of fish. He is the member of the editorial board of the Journal of Aquaculture & Marine Biology and EC Nutrition and is a member of the manuscript review committee for 7 peer-reviewed journals. – Click here to view Dr. Sarker’s short CV.
Dr. Sarker’s Courses:
ENVS 135 Sustainable Aquaculture: Current international and local aquaculture systems and science and practices needed to steer them toward sustainability. Critically looks at practices, analyzes environmental, social, economic, and human health effects of sustainable systems. Includes UCSC Aquaculture lab, farm visits, private sector, guests. Sustainable Aquaculture is part of the Agroecology Major.
ENVS 130C Field Research Experiences in Agroecology & Sustainable Food: Agroecology as a research practice recognizes that agriculture has social, cultural, political and economic dimensions. Agricultural systems come about from interactions between crop production, global environments, and social systems, and require a deep understanding of ecology and related environmental studies fields (e.g. political ecology, anthropology, economics). In this class, students will gain a multidimensional understanding of agroecology through study on and off-campus, at research locations, from listening to guest speakers, and from interdisciplinary readings. Students will participate in research projects and learn about methods, study design, and statistical analysis.
Brandi McKuin is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Environmental Studies Department. Her research interests include the economic and environmental sustainability dimensions of the food-water-energy nexus. She has applied techno-economic and life-cycle assessment to a diverse range of topics including seafood, solar-photovoltaic-shaded irrigation canals and microalgae biofuels. Her dissertation examined the carbon footprint of wild capture fisheries and the climate impact of short-lived pollutants on seafood. She gave an award-winning talk on the climate tradeoffs of sustainable seafood practices at the University of California Carbon Slam and a recent publication on this topic was featured in Science magazine. A poster presentation that featured her work on the techno-economic and life-cycle analysis of solar-photovoltaic-shaded irrigation canals won the audience choice award at the University of California Solar Symposium. She was also part of the NASA OMEGA team where she researched the economic potential and environmental impact of growing microalgae for biofuels in off-shore membrane enclosures for growing algae (OMEGA) using wastewater as the source of freshwater and nutrients. Currently, she is leveraging her experience researching microalgae and wild-capture seafood to study the economic and environmental sustainability of fish-free aquafeeds. She is the technical lead in the development of an aquafeed decision-support tool and is supported by a National Sea Grant award. The tool will be an open-access software that will allow users to assess whether alternative ingredients meet the nutritional requirements of farmed fish, ensure a high-quality product with low environmental impact, and compete with the costs of conventional ingredients. (To view Brandi’s CV click here)
Devin Fitzgerald is the associate specialist that manages the work performed and the facilities at the team’s ecological aquaculture greenhouse at the Center for Agroecology and the bench lab in the ENVS Dept on Science Hill. Devin has been working in the aquaculture sector for over 8 years since he began at a warm water recirculating facility culturing Barramundi. Now, at UCSC, he works closely with staff and students to carry out grant funded projects that investigate microalgae species as a promising ingredient for commercial aquaculture diets. Devin began assisting the team in 2016 at Dartmouth college to develop a truly fish-free diet for tilapia. The results of this work was recently published in Scientific reports. Throughout the 5 years on the team he has helped develop and conduct numerous lab techniques like; pH stat titration, the quantification of lectin and proteases, biological sample preparation and analysis via ICP-AES and elemental combustion, and live animal, microalgae, and cell culture. Devin hopes to pursue a PhD that will work to develop a relationship between agriculture and aquaculture through integrated production. (To view Devin’s short CV – click here).
Connor Greenwood is the lab technician. His primary responsibilities include caring for fish, maintaining the recirculating aquaculture systems, and overseeing undergraduate interns in the Aquabarn. Connor first fell in love with aquaculture when he started his first saltwater reef tank with ornamental fish and corals in high school. This lead him to work a variety of jobs in the coral trade, such as online coral vendor, photographer, wholesale buyer, and manager of a saltwater fish and coral store. During his undergraduate years in the Environmental Studies and Biology departments UCSC, he researched ways to increase the sustainability of our food systems from both an ecological and social perspective. Through his studies, he realized the potential for aquaculture to feed the growing population in a sustainable way, especially when integrated with agriculture. Connor has designed and established a garden outside of our facilities at the Center for Agroecology consisting of SIPRs, or Sub-irrigated Plant Recyclers to grow strawberries using our aquaculture effluent as fertilizer. These will be used to both demonstrate and learn more about the benefits of Integrated Agriculture-Aquaculture (IAA). For more information on the project, click here.
Stephanie Webb is an Environmental Studies PhD candidate. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in marine social science, political economy, and critical food studies. She has an affinity for applied and participatory research, value culturally relevant learning experiences, and believes deeply in the importance of community partnerships. She has received awards from Santa Cruz’s IDEAs Hub, National Science Foundation Innovation Corps, Berkley’s Big Ideas Competition and the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development for developing technology aimed at improving livelihoods of small-scale fishers and national seafood security. She is currently a California Sea Grant Fellow working at the State Water Resources Control Board writing policy that protects marine water quality and promotes climate change resilience for critical water infrastructure. Her doctoral research focused on multiple dimensions of fisheries and food system sustainability where she examined the effects and affects of formal and informal governance on fisheries, food security, and blue food economies in California’s Pacific herring fishery. Her research showed that the coupled effects of fisheries management limiting the variety of gear allowed for harvesting Pacific herring as well as “quid-pro-quo” relationships and trade contracts with major transnational seafood dealers constrain seafood access in the U.S. and perpetuate fish harvests based on neoliberal production paradigms rather than ecosystem or nutrient values. She concludes her research by recommending social and political interventions such a gear switching that could better preserve participant flexibility, protect fisheries from market shocks, and improve food security without sacrificing marine ecosystems.
Nicolette Cheek is an undergraduate Marine Biology student at UCSC. One of her first memories from her childhood was visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and since then she has always had a love for the ocean and ecology. She started learning about aquaculture during her sophomore year of high school for a research project; since then, she continued to learn about the industry during her free time. Her main interest is thinking of ways to make aquaculture more sustainable over the long-term, as it could possibly serve as a major source of food in the near future. Nicolette is currently an intern with the Kapuscinski-Sarker lab and primarily works with Brandi on background research for the lab’s open-source aquafeed decision tool. In her free time, Nicolette enjoys playing guitar, painting, and cooking with her housemates.
Ben Schoffstall recently graduated from UCSC with an Environmental Studies combined with Biology degree. He is interested in researching robust and enduring sustainable alternatives that can help alleviate social and environmental issues. He also recognizes that aquaculture is a growing industry and faces concerns regarding its sustainability without the implementation of sustainable practices. As one of the lab’s research assistants, Ben works on developing the lab’s open-sourced aquafeed decision support tool software. In the future, he hopes to pursue a master’s degree in environmental science or related field. In his free time, he enjoys exploring local natural spaces, swimming, and bowling.
Sofie Andrade is an undergraduate Ecology and Evolutionary Biology student at UCSC. She is broadly interested in conservation ecology, restoration, urban ecology, and sustainable food systems. She became interested in aquaponics in 2019 after building her own planted aquariums. She applied to the Kapuscinski-Sarker lab upon learning of the arrival of rainbow trout for their research on sustainable fish feed. As a STEM Diversity program affiliate, she now works as a research assistant focusing on the eutrophication potential of microalgae based diets for rainbow trout by assisting in the analysis of feed samples and their retention/loss of phosphorus.
Diego Gonzalez
Vandana Teki is a third-year undergraduate in Human Biology student at UCSC. Even since she was young, she has been interested in sustaining marine life as it plays a large role in Planetary Health. She is one of the planetary health ambassadors and is passionate about bringing sustainability to aquaculture over time for the the betterment of the planet. She first heard of this lab when she read an article about how to minimize water pollution from aquafeeds. It intrigued her as many aquafeeds now days result in wastewater with high nitrogen and phosphorus content which typically leads to high amounts of ecological damage to marine and freshwater environments. In order to sustain water quality for aquatic life, it is important that new aquafeeds contains more sustainable and digestible ingredients and be affordable and accessible for fish farmers as it plays an important role in planetary health. Through this lab she hopes to increase access to affordable, sustainable, and digestible fish feed for fish farmers all over the world.