Isabella Smith: Lake Champlain Sea Grant’s 2023 Knauss Fellowship Finalist

Recent Vermont Law School graduate Isabella Smith has received a 2023 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Sea Grant College Program.

The 2023 Knauss Fellowship finalists will become the 44th class of one of the most prestigious marine policy fellowships in the United States. Since 1979, Sea Grant has provided one-year Knauss fellowships to more than 1,500 early career professionals to work with federal agencies in Washington, D.C. 

Originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Smith moved to the Green Mountain State for her undergraduate degree at the University of Vermont. She enrolled in the accelerated Juris Doctor Program which is a 5-year J.D./B.S. degree program through a partnership with the University of Vermont and Vermont Law School. Smith graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont Rubenstein School. In May 2022, she graduated magna cum laude from Vermont Law School’s accelerated J.D. program.

Smith has always been interested in water quality issues. Her internship and project experiences throughout college were focused on water quality concerns, Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), and their effects on Lake Champlain. 

In law school, she was selected to attend the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. She attended on behalf of a group of Vermont Law School students tasked to support a delegation from the Seychelle Islands, in the western Indian Ocean, to help them advocate for nature-based solutions and blue carbon initiatives that would benefit the island republic’s economy and environment in the face of climate change impacts. She used this unique opportunity to attend meetings with global leaders and helped draft recommended language and talking points for her client.

“For as long as I can remember, I have been motivated to find the path that utilizes my personal strengths to affect the most meaningful change in the world,” said Smith. “Through my studies, I discovered that ocean law and policy is the place for me to achieve that lifelong dream.”

This past spring, she worked in the Arizona House of Representatives as a full-time legal extern and helped draft groundbreaking legislation to address persistent water shortages in the state. Before this, she was a clinician for the Environmental Advocacy Law Clinic where she represented clients, conducted legal research, wrote legal briefs, and covered surface water allocation and Clean Water Act issues both in Vermont and nationally.

“Isabella has the poise and capability of a person with many more years of experience,” said Breck Bowden, Lake Champlain Sea Grant director. “Given her background and interest in marine policy and law, I think that Isabella is ideally suited to the Knauss Fellowship.”

Knauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state Sea Grant program and national levels. Students finishing Masters (M.S.), Juris Doctor (J.D.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs with a focus and/or interest in marine science, policy, or management apply to one of the 34 Sea Grant programs. If applicants are successful at the state program level, their applications are then reviewed by a national panel of experts.

“I have no doubt that the Knauss fellowship will help me develop a deep substantive knowledge of marine governance, connect me with amazing leaders, and expose me to a variety of career pathways post-fellowship,” said Smith.

Following placement, Smith and other finalists will begin their fellowships in February 2023 in either the executive or the legislative branch of the federal government. 

Learn more about the Knauss Fellowship.