Station:

• Potomac River National Wildlife Refuge Complex
• US Fish & Wildlife Service Headquarters Office (Advanced Fellow)

Years Served: 2019-2022

Hometown: Evanston, Illinois

Pre-Fellowship Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies, Biology, and Hispanic Studies from Oberlin College

Bio: Naomi began her transportation fellowship with the Potomac River National Wildlife Refuge Complex and advanced to USFWS headquarters in August 2020. At the Transportation & Data Management branch, Naomi focused on high-level projects that aid the regional transportation coordinators and HQ transportation analysists with planning and implementation. These projects included but were not limited to obtaining and managing asset cost estimates, rolling out a reduced-cost ride partnership with Lyft, creating an inventory of past FLAP projects, setting up the upcoming transportation needs assessment, analyzing visitor satisfaction survey data, helping create a refuge access plan template, updating SharePoint sites, and helping support new fellows. Naomi also continued to work partially with Potomac River on outstanding projects and transportation needs. Prior to the fellowship, her research included studying the social and political implications of rice farming in Japan, working with wild bees in the Ecuadorian cloud forest, and exploring hazelnuts as a sustainable food crop for the Midwest region. She loves working collaboratively and did so on a semester-long project redesigning a 5- way intersection in the city of Oberlin. Some of her core working values are public engagement, community collaboration, social equity, and environmental stewardship.

Current Position (2024): Planner and Project Manager for the Headquarters Infrastructure Management Division at US Fish & Wildlife Service