THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. Middlebury Institute of International Studies and The Center for the Blue Economy present a discussion with Dr. Melissa Garren, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Scientist at Pelagic Data Systems, on Tuesday, March 10, at 6pm in Room 100 in the McGowan Building on the campus of MIIS.

Holding a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, with a completed postdoctoral fellowship in the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, and more than 20 years of experience underwater as a PADI certified scuba Divemaster, Melissa Garren brings substantial expertise to the intersection of technology and marine conservation. Her passion for and focus on the application of cutting-edge technologies to marine conservation solutions has remained constant since the earliest days of her scientific career when she completed her undergraduate work in Molecular Biology at Yale University, where her thesis brought novel molecular tools to bear on questions surrounding coral reef conservation.

In a dual role as COO & Chief Scientist at Pelagic Data Systems (PDS), Dr. Garren leverages her extensive experience and practical knowledge working with local communities and diverse groups of stakeholders around the globe to foster fishery sustainability and healthy nearshore water quality. In addition to awards PDS received in 2018 from the National Geographic Society and SeaWeb, in early 2019 Conscious Company named Dr. Garren to its “35 World-Changing Women in Conscious Business 2019." A frequent speaker at international conferences on topics such as combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, Dr. Garren is often called on as a technical expert by UN Agencies such as the FAO and national governments.