Gabrielle Canonico: US Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) Manager

Gabrielle leads development of the U.S. Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON). She works to ensure strong representation of biology in U.S. and global ocean observing efforts, and to find resources for sustained monitoring of marine life and biodiversity.

Gabrielle has spent over two decades working on a range of topics – including ocean observing, biodiversity, and aquatic resource management – with an emphasis on building partnerships to support science-based decision-making. She currently works in the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System program office at NOAA to bring science, data, and policy together through the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network, or MBON. However, Gabrielle has worked for multiple other federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of State, and U.S. Geological Survey. She decided to steer her career towards her science-policy interest in hopes of making a difference in people’s lives. The best part of her job, she says, is seeing projects she supports make an impact in their communities. She wants people interested in careers like hers to know that, while it’s important to have a science background, it’s also important to jump on opportunities to see how policy is made or science is done in the setting they want to work in.