Helen Cheng is an interdisciplinary marine scientist with over 15 years of experience in marine, coastal, and estuarine ecology, and fisheries and coastal policy and management. She integrates public outreach and engagement into her research and fosters collaborations and partnerships with groups such as academic and research institutions, federal, state, local agencies, and grassroots organizations.
Helen is a Ph.D. candidate at Northeastern University. For her dissertation research, she is investigating the ecological and socio-economic impacts of range-expanding species on the American lobster fishery. Helen pursues interdisciplinary approaches in understanding marine and coastal systems, both natural and anthropogenic.
Prior to Northeastern University, Helen worked at the NOAA National Sea Grant Office as a John A. Knauss Fellow, where she was introduced to marine policy at the federal level. She also worked at New York Sea Grant as a coastal resilience extension specialist based in New York City, working on translating and communicating science and local knowledge of climate and urban ecological issues.