On Friday, August 16th, the Potomac Chapter of AFS funded eight Knauss Fellows to take a day trip to tour Horn Point Oyster Hatchery and NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Cooperative Oxford Laboratory. NOAA’s John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program is a one-year paid opportunity for current and recent graduates from advanced degree programs to apply their scientific knowledge and experiences to lasting careers in the sciences, policy, and public administration. As a part of their professional development, eight fellows toured one of the largest oyster hatcheries on the east coast (Horn Point Oyster Hatchery) as well as a nearby NOAA laboratory facility (NCCOS Cooperative Oxford Laboratory). The fellows learned about the oyster cultivation process as well as the different elements involved in running a restoration-oriented, research-based aquaculture facility, from controlling the temperatures to maximize oyster reproduction, to having an automated feeding system for the spat (baby oysters), to knowing the optimal time to remove the oysters from the tanks and put them in the river. At the NCCOS Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, the fellows learned about the lab’s current research projects including marine mammal necropsies to determine causes of death of marine mammals, and research on vibrio. Both of these tours were valuable professional development experiences for the fellows to see first-hand how two different, highly sophisticated research facilities are addressing environmental issues in the field of marine science.