Nicole Naar is a Social Science and Education Specialist and Team Lead at Washington Sea Grant (WSG). As an applied anthropologist and educator, she partners with coastal communities and marine resource users to respond to social-ecological challenges through collaboration, research, and education and outreach. She brings social science expertise to transdisciplinary research projects and works with her team at WSG to facilitate multiconstituent events and collaborative networks, as well as design and implement K-12 education programming and workforce development training.
Nicole holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from UC-Davis, and a B.S. from Emory University. Before joining WSG, she contributed to the Puget Sound Kelp Conservation and Recovery Plan as a postdoc with NOAA Fisheries. Her doctoral research in Baja California Sur, Mexico (i.e., the Pacific Southwest) used participant observation, migration narratives, household surveys, experimental economic games, and social network analysis to explore how community diversity affects small-scale fisheries management. She found her love for curriculum design and backwards planning while teaching high school science in the Rio Grande Valley with Teach For America.
Nicole lives in Shoreline with her husband and two children. When she isn’t in the dance studio, she’s usually exploring parks, trails and tidepools with her family. She is honored to join the Science Advisory Committee and looks forward to supporting community-led, place-based projects that promote the stewardship of our shared home waters.