Josh Nowlis

For more than two decades, Dr. Nowlis has performed science and provided scientific advice to make environmental policies more effective and efficient. He has a doctorate in Ecology from Cornell University, a Master’s Degree in Economics from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Brown University. He has served as an environmental policy analyst and adviser to governments, stakeholder groups, and the general public throughout the U.S., Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. He was one of the first scientists to study the design and function of marine protected areas and has made contributions to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of various other fishery management tools. Moreover, he has developed and championed methods for managing fisheries even when conventional data are lacking. Some of these methods rely on innovative simultaneous analysis of biological and economic drivers. Others rely on risk-oriented operational control systems that learn and adapt with experience. More than any other subject, he specializes in making analysis of complex systems useful and understandable to scientists and non-scientists alike. In addition to his scientific background, Dr. Nowlis has served in a wide range of supervisory roles, including project management and cross-functional team leadership. He is currently a Research Associate on contract to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center, where he collaborates with economists and stock assessment scientists to co-lead training and mentoring programs to improve fishery management systems all over the world, particularly when data and other management resources are limited.