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Research Data Scientist

Zach Koehn

Zach (he/him) works on the Blue Food Assessment, a broad coalition that seeks to improve the role of marine and freshwater foods to the global food system. He focuses on the potential for these blue foods to contribute critical micronutrients to meet dietary requirements for people in different social and economic contexts. He also uses an environmental justice lens to identify inequities in the production and distribution of blue foods with respect to nutrition and livelihood security.

Zach completed his doctorate at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. His PhD explored how sustainably harvested seafood can improve public health by focusing on its connection to the food system to improve public health at global and local scales. This work combined policy analysis, data synthesis across natural and social datasets, interviews, and quantitative modeling of the seafood value chain.  During graduate school he was a member of working groups at interdisciplinary centers, including the National Center for National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religious Studies, and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies, both from Stanford University. He has worked for NGOs, as well as US federal agencies, academic research institutions, and international organizations. Prior to his PhD, Zach managed a direct market company for local seafood, Real Good Fish, based in Monterey Bay, California.

He grew up on the U.S. Great Lakes, and loves the Pacific Ocean. Zach surfs in the winter, races paddleboards in the summer, and eats local seafood at least 2x per week.

Publications