Ileana Fenwick

Biography

Ileana graduated from Hampton University in 2020 and is now a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences program at UNC-Chapel Hill. Working in the Nye Quantitative Fisheries Ecology Lab, evaluates marine community responses to climate change and human impacts. Her work uses innovative quantitative approaches to improve our understanding of how marine species will respond to changing seas for better management outcomes.

Through her firm, Mahogany Mermaids, Fenwick encourages young people of color, specifically Black and African American, to join the aquatic sciences. She has also been involved in programming at the Ackerman Center for Sustainable Enterprise. In 2021, she became a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.