Rachel Gates (she/her) leads the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s Energy Sovereignty Program. She holds a Master’s in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington, where her capstone research focused on community engagement in wave and tidal energy development, and a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from Barnard College of Columbia University. Rachel was a participant in the University of Washington’s inaugural Science Justice Summer School and currently serves as a community advocate on the Puget Sound Energy Equity Advisory Group.

Before joining the Tribe, Rachel served as a Development Associate for the Forest Stewardship Council Investments & Partnerships, focusing on grant writing and reporting. Rachel’s other prior work experience spans the environmental sector from serving as an AmeriCorps Communications and Operations Fellow at an environmental nonprofit, teaching fifth grade earth science at a Bronx, NY charter school and interning at the City of Palo Alto’s Zero Waste department. She also has a strong mixed-methods research background, having studied salt-stress in plants at Stanford, Indigenous tourism in Panama, the deep chlorophyll maximum in river plumes at Barnard College of Columbia University (B.A. Environmental Science, 2020), and best practices for community engagement during tidal and wave energy at the University of Washington (Master’s in Marine Affairs, 2024). For fun, she cooks vegan meals, plays with her toy poodle Maple, and reads prolifically.

Favorite SFS Memory: Hard to pick just one! I loved hiking to Wizard Beach in the rain on Bastimentos Island during one of my weekends off & touring Oreba Chocolate as part of my directed research project on Indigenous tourism. Also snorkeling in fish nursery habitat near the base of mangroves and observing all the Acropora cervicornis (staghorn coral) in the reefs. And getting dive certified with a bunch of my classmates!