Jacob Shaner supports restoration, aquaculture, and coastal resiliency field research at the Cooperative Oxford Lab, including the development of alternative oyster setting methods for restoration, aquaculture, and wild harvest, testing nature based oyster settlement substrates, and larval marking. Shaner also assists with vessel fleet management and supporting NOAA scientific diving programs at COL.
Shaner earned his B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Delaware in 2013 and an M.S. in Marine-Estuarine Environmental Sciences from the University of Maryland in 2020, where he studied fish health dynamics in response to environmental conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. Prior to his federal role at NCCOS, Shaner worked with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, studying fish health and responding to marine mammal and sea turtle strandings, and with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, performing remote habitat restoration field work on Johnston Atoll.