SoMAS graduate student Charles Wall
Charles Wall was selected as a Schubel Fellow for 2008. The J.R. Schubel Graduate Fellowship, named for former Dean and Director of MSRC Jerry Schubel, provides an annual stipend supplement for SoMAS graduate students committed to translating science into forms that are accessible to the public and/or inform public policy.
Charles Wall is a Ph.D. student in Chris Gobler’s lab. He studies benthic-pelagic coupling in estuaries, particularly how benthic suspension feeders such as bivalves structure estuarine ecosystems.
Before beginning graduate school, Wall taught science at several outdoor education programs on the West Coast.
Inspired by the success of the Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program (SCERP) environmental symposium, he plans to create more public forums for discussion of local environmental issues.
Charles is particularly interested in restoring bivalves to Long Island estuaries. He plans to collaborate with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, which has a shellfish hatchery in Southold, on activities to engage the aquaculture community.
“Science education is very important,” says Charles, explaining that too frequently the public doesn’t have an adequate foundation in basic science to understand important concepts.
“The fact that we’re still arguing about the existence of evolution and climate change means we [scientists] are not doing a good enough job,” he says. “How can you understand what’s going on in the world if you don’t at least have some general background in science?”
