Andrew Lipsky

Education

• USDA Graduate School; National Leadership Development Program; 2010
• M.S. University of Rhode Island, Marine Ecology and Watershed Hydrology, 2003
• Masters Research- Development of an Eelgrass Restoration Site Selection Model & Transplant Suitability Index for Narragansett Bay
• Visiting Researcher Brown University, Tidal Subsurface Hydrology Investigations, 1999
• B.A. University of Vermont, Environmental Studies and Political Science, 1992
• Undergraduate studies in Latin, Cornell University, 1987

Professional History

With over 25 years of fisheries experience, Andy has worked at the NGO, private industry, State, Tribal, and Federal levels. Andy joined NOAA and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in 2016 and now serves as the Center’s Offshore Wind Team Lead. In this role, he has overseen the Center’s growing offshore wind science program to meet the scientific needs of the regulatory process, develop a federal survey mitigation program, and advance research on the interactions of offshore wind on NMFS trust resources.  He currently co-chairs the International Council on the Exploration of the Sea's Fisheries and Offshore Wind Working Group composed of scientists focused on offshore and fisheries research in the North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean, and the Atlantic. Prior to joining NOAA, Andy served as a managing partner for SeaPlan-a private resource planning startup, where he led efforts to design and execute the first collaborative fisheries studies to evaluate the effects of the Block Island Wind Farm on groundfish and lobster resources and supported fisheries mitigation efforts. Andy began his federal career in 2002 as a fish and wildlife biologist with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and from 2009-2011 served as USDA's ocean policy advisor to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Andy began his fisheries career in 1992 working on endangered desert fish in the Southwestern United States. He is a graduate of the USDA Graduate School Leadership Development Program, holds an MS in natural resources sciences from the University of Rhode Island and a BA from the University of Vermont, and served as visiting researcher at Brown University. Andy lives in Attleboro, MA with his wife Kiela, and three daughters- Juliet, Thaila, and Malia.