Susan Roberts, Board Director
Claudia Mengelt, Program Officer
Susan Park, Program Officer
Shubha Banskota, Financial Associate
Pamela Lewis, Administrative Coordinator
Jodi Bostrom, Research Associate
Susan Roberts became the director of the Ocean Studies Board in April 2004. Dr. Roberts received her Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and as a senior staff fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Roberts’ past research experience has included fish muscle physiology and biochemistry, marine bacterial symbioses, and developmental cell biology. She has directed a number of studies for the Ocean Studies Board including Nonnative Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay (2004); Decline of the Steller Sea Lion in Alaskan Waters: Untangling Food Webs and Fishing Nets (2003); Effects of Trawling & Dredging on Seafloor Habitat (2002); Marine Protected Areas: Tools for Sustaining Ocean Ecosystems (2001); Under the Weather: Climate, Ecosystems, and Infectious Disease (2001); Bridging Boundaries Through Regional Marine Research (2000); and From Monsoons to Microbes: Understanding the Ocean’s Role in Human Health (1999). Dr. Roberts specializes in the science and management of living marine resources.
Claudia Mengelt has recently joined the Ocean Studies Board as a program officer. After completing her B.S. in aquatic biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she received her M.S. in biological oceanography from the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. Her Master’s degree research focused on how chemical and physical parameters in the surface ocean effect Antarctic phytoplankton species composition and consequently impact biogeochemical cycles. She obtained her Ph.D. in marine sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she conducted research on the photophysiology of harmful algal species. She joined the full-time staff of the National Academies' Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC) in the fall of 2005 following a fellowship with the same group in the winter of 2005. While with BASC, she has worked on studies addressing the design of Arctic observing systems (2006), evaluating lessons learned from global change assessments (2007), providing strategic guidance for NSF's atmospheric sciences (2007), and highlighting scientific achievements of Earth observations from space (2007).
Susan Park is a program officer with the Ocean Studies Board. She received her Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Delaware in 2004. Her dissertation focused on the range expansion of the non-native Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus. In the summer of 2002, she participated in the Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Graduate Policy Fellowship with the Ocean Studies Board (OSB). During her fellowship, she worked on the OSB study on Non-native Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. Prior to joining OSB, Susan spent time working on aquatic invasive species management with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and the Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species Panel. While invasive species issues remain her expertise, Susan is looking forward to working on and learning more about the many varied aspects of ocean policy that are currently affecting the nation and the globe.
Shubha Banskota is the financial associate with the Ocean Studies Board, the Polar Research Board, and the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. She joined the Academies in 2006 as a proposal specialist working in the Office of Contracts and Grants, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, reviewing proposals from Division on Earth and Life Studies (DELS), Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE), and National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Before joining the National Academies, she worked with the Louis Berger Group managing grants, and before that, she was an economist with USAID/Nepal. She has a B.A. in economics from the George Washington University.
Pamela Lewis is the administrative coordinator with the Ocean Studies Board. She joined the Academies in 1997 as a program assistant working in the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences (DEPS), Board on Army Science and Technology and the Air Force Studies Board. She received a promotion to program associate in DEPS with the Board on Physics and Astronomy, where she was a recipient of a DEPS Staff Award. Pam attended Berkeley-Claremont Business School in New York City, majoring in business management. Prior to coming to the Academies, she was employed as an office manager at IBM in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Jodi Bostrom is a research associate with the Ocean Studies Board. She earned an M.S. in environmental science from American University in 2006 and a B.S. in zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998. Since starting with the Ocean Studies Board in May 1999, Jodi has worked on several studies pertaining to coastal restoration, fisheries, marine mammals, nutrient over-enrichment, ocean exploration, and capacity building.
