About

Who is Elle Wibisono?

Elle was born and raised in Indonesia. She is a Indonesian Fisheries Science and Policy Fellow at Conservation International.

She earned her doctorate researching the deep-water snapper grouper fisheries in Indonesia at the University of Rhode Island in December 2020. Prior to her PhD journey, she received her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and worked at The Nature Conservancy Indonesia for several years focusing on the same deep-water snapper and grouper fishery that became the basis of her dissertation. #fishnerd

She then worked at the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; Ocean, Fisheries, Climate Change, and Manufacturing Subcommittee (D) as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. During this time, she helped draft and review bills and together with the team contributed to the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (‘Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill’). She also supported the Committee in several vote-a-ramas, including for the American Rescue Plan and Build Back Better.

As both an artist and scientist, Elle continues to explore the intersection of research and policy, as well as the importance of effective science communication through art and design. To further her interest in science communications, she competed and won third place at the Open Sea Lab Hackathon  hosted by ICES (International Commission for Exploration of the Seas) to design an app that uses open-access ocean data. She also competed in the Dance Your Ph.D competition hosted by AAAS and presented in several international science conferences. Currently, she is writing and illustrating a children’s book about deep-water snappers. Hopefully to be published by the end of 2022!

Brief introduction to my dissertation research:

Open Sea Lab 2019 Hackathon Design Pitch (pitch starts at 3:13:13) :

Dance Your PhD 2019: