Expedition Team

Sarah Wegmueller

Sarah Wegmueller, S-197


Age: 24
Alumna: S197 (Deckhand, S216)
Occupation: Research Associate at the Environmental Law Institute

I grew up on a dairy farm in southern Wisconsin. Every night after school and ballet class, I would milk my family's cows and dream of exploring the world. (A family dairy farm demands somebody to be at home at all times so we did not travel much when I was growing up.) I attended Carleton College in Northfield, MN, determined to travel – and that I did! Majoring in Political Science and Chinese, I studied and later worked as a researcher in China; I traveled throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, and a bit of North Africa. The best study abroad trip, of course, was S197. Within one year, I made it to the point on earth furthest from an ocean and to points in the ocean thousands of miles from land. I was delighted to jump back aboard the Seamans and serve as a deckhand on the S216 voyage, and I am excited to volunteer on this journey, too!

Currently I work for the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), a non-profit research and education center in Washington, DC. I have focused my research there on a project on strengthening post-conflict peacebuilding through natural resource management. Specifically, I have investigated the role of natural resources enabling livelihoods recovery in post-war countries. In February, 2010, ELI and the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Frontier Sciences invited me to present my research at the International Symposium on Improving Natural Resource Management in Post-Conflict Countries: Roles of Business for Human Security at the University of Tokyo in Japan. I have researched various other issues of environmental law at ELI ranging from ecosystem-based management to wetlands mitigation banking.

When I am not working at ELI or milking cows, I am working at the DC Dupont Farmers' Market, volunteering with Surfrider, taking as many dance classes as I can afford, or teaching yoga. I look forward to sailing with all of you!




funding

Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition 2010 is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program. Additional funding provided by Sea Education Association and Henry L. and Grace Doherty Foundation. American Chemistry Council provided support for web-based outreach. Crew gear provided by Patagonia. This expedition is in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Woods Hole Sea Grant.