My name is Seth Sykora-Bodie and I am a conservation scientist, geographer, and policy analyst primarily interested in conservation planning, protected areas and species, social-ecological systems, and environmental governance/decision-making. Currently, I work for NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, where I cover the Pacific Islands & Alaska portfolio, which means I am working directly on the proposed sanctuary designation for the Pacific Remote Islands. Previously, I served as the Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations of NOAA Fisheries, where I worked closely with our leadership to advance the agency's conservation and resource management goals on a broad range of topics.
In 2020, I completed my Ph.D. in Marine Science & Conservation at Duke University in North Carolina with Dr. Andy Read. My doctoral research focused on global efforts to establish a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Antarctica, which I have pursued by drawing on the fields of conservation science, geography, collaborative governance, and political science, and by using interdisciplinary methods such as participatory mapping, surveys, interviews, and forecasting techniques.
Before beginning at Duke University, I worked in NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Protected Resources, where I initially started as a 2014 Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow as the special assistant to the Director of OPR before staying on and moving to the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Conservation Division. I also worked as a fellow at the U.S. Department of the Interior and a consultant at the World Wildlife Fund, and completed Masters of Public Policy (M.P.P.) and Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology (M.S.) at the University of Maryland.
As a child, I caught the travel bug early when my mother taught abroad in England and South Korea. After finishing high school, starting college sounded less appealing than spending a year as a Rotary Exchange Scholar in France. From there, things snowballed and I spent college working in a brewery, at a climbing gym, and on a horse farm to pay for backpacking trips around South America, Europe, and Asia. I also used those years to study cultural geography in India, North African culture and architecture in Egypt, and Arabic as a Critical Language Scholar in Tunisia through the U.S. Department of State. Most recently I spent six months at James Cook University in Australia and another eight in Paris, France.
These days I keep busy by playing as much soccer and beach volleyball as possible, and also enjoy sailing and diving. I have also been riding horses since I was four and have coached both riding and soccer. I am an avid photographer and each of the photos at the top of this site's pages are my own work and others can be found here. Finally, I love to read; everything from contemporary novels to popular science fiction to monthly magazines. Among my favorite magazines and books are The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Tender Bar, The Lost Heart of Asia, The Bean Trees, Ender’s Game, The Geography of Bliss, The Lacuna, and In Patagonia.
In 2020, I completed my Ph.D. in Marine Science & Conservation at Duke University in North Carolina with Dr. Andy Read. My doctoral research focused on global efforts to establish a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Antarctica, which I have pursued by drawing on the fields of conservation science, geography, collaborative governance, and political science, and by using interdisciplinary methods such as participatory mapping, surveys, interviews, and forecasting techniques.
Before beginning at Duke University, I worked in NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Protected Resources, where I initially started as a 2014 Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow as the special assistant to the Director of OPR before staying on and moving to the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Conservation Division. I also worked as a fellow at the U.S. Department of the Interior and a consultant at the World Wildlife Fund, and completed Masters of Public Policy (M.P.P.) and Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology (M.S.) at the University of Maryland.
As a child, I caught the travel bug early when my mother taught abroad in England and South Korea. After finishing high school, starting college sounded less appealing than spending a year as a Rotary Exchange Scholar in France. From there, things snowballed and I spent college working in a brewery, at a climbing gym, and on a horse farm to pay for backpacking trips around South America, Europe, and Asia. I also used those years to study cultural geography in India, North African culture and architecture in Egypt, and Arabic as a Critical Language Scholar in Tunisia through the U.S. Department of State. Most recently I spent six months at James Cook University in Australia and another eight in Paris, France.
These days I keep busy by playing as much soccer and beach volleyball as possible, and also enjoy sailing and diving. I have also been riding horses since I was four and have coached both riding and soccer. I am an avid photographer and each of the photos at the top of this site's pages are my own work and others can be found here. Finally, I love to read; everything from contemporary novels to popular science fiction to monthly magazines. Among my favorite magazines and books are The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Tender Bar, The Lost Heart of Asia, The Bean Trees, Ender’s Game, The Geography of Bliss, The Lacuna, and In Patagonia.
"We are tied to the ocean. When we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came."
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy