Director
Phone: 631.632.6905
Fax: 631.632.6917
E-mail: Rebecca.Shuford@stonybrook.edu
New York Sea Grant
Research and Development Park, Innovation and Discovery Center
Suite 221
500 Innovation Rd.
Stony Brook, NY 11794
Rebecca (Becky) L. Shuford, Ph.D., Director of the NYSG program, is a New York native, originally from Brooklyn, and has a life-long history with and love for NY’s coastal ecosystems and communities.
Prior to appointment as Director of NYSG, Becky worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Silver Spring, MD, where she managed a portfolio of challenging, high-profile programs focused on the science, management, conservation and sustainable use of trust coastal and marine resources using an ecosystem-based approach to management. This included developing and directing NOAA’s Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) program and leading NOAA’s Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) program, among other responsibilities.
Becky holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Biology from Cornell University as well as a Masters and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina. Her graduate degrees focused on the biology and life-history of yellowfin tuna in the Atlantic, and her doctoral work was conducted at a French research lab in Brest, France.
Becky's interest in fisheries oceanography was sparked while, between her undergraduate and graduate education, working for the National Audubon Society. During that time, she had the opportunity to go fishing off the coast of Montauk with the director of the oceans program. Becky also interned at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where she worked on coastal conservation and restoration efforts, further informing her interests.
Following her graduate studies, Becky earned the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship and served as a Foreign Affairs Fellow in the Office of International Affairs for NOAA Fisheries. She then served as a Research Assistant Professor and fisheries oceanographer as a member of the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing System based at the University of South Carolina, before joining NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System Program as an Oceanographer.
