By Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

This week I’ll be trading my MLML t-shirts for a business suit when I head off to Washington, D.C. for Capitol Hill Ocean Week.   Sponsored by the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation, the week is held around World Ocean Day (coming up on June 8th!) and brings together legislators, agencies, academics and nonprofits to discuss ocean and coastal issues.  This year, the topic couldn’t be more timely:  “Clean Energy and a Healthy Ocean: Navigating the Future.”  I hope that the major topic of discussion will be the oil spill and environmental disaster currently unfolding in the Gulf Coast.

Thanks to a scholarship from the Center for Ocean Solution’s MARINE program, I will get to immerse myself in the mix of ocean science, policy, and science communication during a whirlwind few days.  I’ll be posting along with other staff from the Center for Ocean Solutions on their new Open Ocean blog.  In addition to attending some of the scheduled panels, I’ll be traveling around the city to meet with a variety of science communicators and conservation scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, the World Wildlife Fund, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to name a few.

Send me your thoughts and I’ll pack them along with me to DC!