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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
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Appendix B
Committee Member and Staff Biographies

Committee Member Biographies

Holly Greening was both Executive Director and Senior Scientist of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP), where she oversaw a unique federal, state, and local partnership dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Florida’s largest open-water estuary. She managed TBEP’s varied technical and public outreach efforts and served as the chief liaison between the program and the elected officials, scientists, regulators, and citizens that served on its various committees. Also, through her role as TBEP’s Executive Director, she facilitated the development of Tampa Bay’s successful nutrient management and seagrass recovery strategy. She has served on the Governing Board of the Estuarine Research Federation (now Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation) and four National Academies committees on coastal issues: the Committee on Causes and Management of Coastal Eutrophication, the Committee on Evaluation of NOAA’s Sectoral Applications Research Program to Provide Climate Change Information to Resource Managers, the Committee on National Needs in Coastal Mapping and Charting, and the Committee on the Evaluation of Chesapeake Bay Program Implementation for Nutrient Reduction to Improve Water Quality. She also served as a member of the National Academies’ Ocean Studies Board from 2005 to 2007. Upon retiring from TBEP after 27 years in 2018, Ms. Greening cofounded CoastWise Partners to provide volunteer assistance to coastal and watershed programs nationwide and internationally. In 1980, she received an M.S. in marine ecology from Florida State University.

Walter Boynton is a Professor Emeritus at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Dr. Boynton is a coastal and estuarine ecosystem ecologist and his research spans sediment biogeochemistry, eutrophication, seagrass ecology, and coastal and estuarine restoration, among other topics. His approach has a strong synthesis and modeling emphasis, and he is especially interested in working with decision makers. Dr. Boynton has served on many local, regional, and national boards, including EPA Science Advisory Board panels that reviewed the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico and nutrient criteria in Florida. He has also worked with the U.S. Department of Justice on Gulf of Mexico oil spill issues. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Odum Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation and the Ruth Patrick Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography and the Mathias Medal from Sea Grant and the Chesapeake Research Consortium. He is also a past president of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation. He received a B.S. in biology from Springfield College, a M.S. in marine science from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Florida.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×

Bethany A. Carl Kraft is a Coastal Scientist and Senior Program Manager at Volkert, Inc. Ms. Kraft’s expertise lies at the intersection of science and policy. She provides support for a wide range of ecosystem restoration projects across the Gulf Coast, including serving as ecology lead for restoration activities in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Florida. She also supports clients’ Deepwater Horizon restoration programs, working on projects for myriad resources including oysters, birds, wetlands, marine mammals, and sea turtles. Her current projects include marsh creation, watershed management planning, living shorelines, stream restoration and monitoring and adaptive management. Previously she was the Director of the Gulf Restoration Program at the Ocean Conservancy, where she led an interdisciplinary team to secure a science-based and community-supported restoration and ecosystem enhancement effort in the Gulf of Mexico. She also served a 1-year detail to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) as the Director of External Affairs and previously served as the Executive Director at the Alabama Coastal Foundation, where she was active in Alabama’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill response. She began her conservation career in Texas with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Ms. Kraft holds an undergraduate degree in political science from Texas A&M University, a Graduate Certificate in coastal sciences from the University of New Orleans, and an M.S. in forest resources and conservation from the University of Florida.

Heida Diefenderfer is a Senior Research Scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a Faculty Fellow at the University of Washington. Dr. Diefenderfer is an ecologist with expertise in ecological restoration. Her research focus is on riverine and coastal ecosystems, including swamps, marshes, and submerged aquatic vegetation. She has a particular interest in multidisciplinary work that encompasses a range of temporal and spatial scales, including the watershed, riparian zone, and coastal nearshore. Dr. Diefenderfer’s expertise in these systems includes aspects of ecohydrology, ecological engineering, geomorphology, landscape ecology, systems analysis and synthesis, cultural studies, and sustainability. In her present role, she leads applied research advancing ecological restoration methods for endangered species recovery, understanding of the cumulative effects of large-scale ecosystem restoration, spatial planning and modeling of wetland evolution associated with coastal resilience, blue carbon and climate-adaptation studies, and impacts-assessment for energy infrastructure. She has served on several technical advisory committees and project teams in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere, including roles as an appointee of the Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands to the WA Natural Heritage Advisory Council, and as a system expert for the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s adaptive management of large-scale ecosystem restoration. Dr. Diefenderfer has served as a reviewer for the Academies’ Gulf Research Program and participated in the Academies’ Keck Futures Initiative workshop on ecosystem services, a continuing research interest. Dr. Diefenderfer received a B.A. in biology with a thesis in landscape ecology from Reed College, a B.A. in liberal arts with emphasis on Native American studies from The Evergreen State College, an M.A. in English from Western Washington University, and a Ph.D. in ecosystem analysis from the College of Forest Resources.

Albert George was the first Director of Conservation for the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, South Carolina, and now serves as an advisor to the aquarium. His interests and expertise span marine science, climate change, public policy, social equity, and technology. As the Director of Conservation, he worked with policymakers and citizens to prepare for sea level rise and the impacts of climate change; his efforts included town halls, production of a documentary, and the development of a data visualization tool. Mr. George also participated in a working group at The Nature Conservancy on salt marshes and sea level rise, including along the coastal Gulf of Mexico. He is also a founder and has been the coordinator of the Georgia Green Economy Summit for the past decade. Previously, he worked on conservation issues in the Brazil Amazon Rainforest, served as the Director of Education at the Georgia Aquarium, consulted for Booz Allen Hamilton, worked as the Director of the Packard Scholar Program at Morehouse College, and was an education consultant for Stanford University; in addition, he was also an NIH Marc Fellow at Yale University, among other positions. Mr. George has a B.S. in marine biology from Savannah State Universi-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×

ty, a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and an M.S. in HTS/technology management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Kenneth L. Heck, Jr. is a Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and Professor Emeritus at the University of South Alabama School of Marine Science. Dr. Heck is a marine ecologist whose research has focused on plant–animal interactions in coastal waters, with an emphasis on seagrass-dominated ecosystems. Recent efforts have focused on restoring northern Gulf of Mexico seagrass meadows and oyster reefs. He has more than four decades of experience on the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and in Central America, Europe, and Australia. Dr. Heck has edited two volumes of scholarly works, coedited a special issue of the journal Estuaries, and published nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles. He has held editorial positions at the journals Systematic Zoology, Estuaries and Coasts, Gulf of Mexico Science, and Marine Ecology Progress Series. In addition, he regularly serves on advisory and review panels for state and federal agencies, including the Scientific Advisory Committees for the Mobile Bay and Pensacola/Perdido Bays National Estuary Programs, and EPA and NOAA panels concerning nutrient criteria in Florida waters and the effects of sea level rise on the northern Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Heck also served as a consultant to NOAA on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on Gulf of Mexico seagrass meadows, and on a National Research Council panel charged with developing monitoring and evaluations protocols for on-going restoration activities in the Gulf of Mexico. He is a past president of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF), a scientific organization of some 1,100 marine and estuarine scientists and is a corecipient of CERF’s Odum Award for Lifetime Achievement. Dr. Heck received a B.S. from the University of West Florida and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Florida State University.

Barbara A. Kleiss is a Research Professor and Coordinator of the River Science and Engineering Certificate Program at Tulane University’s School of Science and Engineering. Her research is focused on the rivers and wetlands in the lower Mississippi River valley. Dr. Kleiss’s current interests include developing an improved understanding of the functions of the residual Mississippi River floodplains, further understanding sediment dynamics in the river and their measurement, and developing programs by which principles of river science and engineering can be more readily conveyed to river management professionals across the country. Her research has included work on sediment deposition and nitrogen dynamics in bottomland hardwood wetlands in Mississippi River tributaries; water chemistry, ecology, and groundwater assessment of over 40 rivers systems in the Mississippi Embayment; participated in the development of Level IV ecoregions for the lower Mississippi Valley; and assessment of the efficacy of river diversions. She has also been involved in creating, developing, and directing large interdisciplinary research programs associated with the Mississippi River and its delta as the Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment Program’s Mississippi Embayment project and the Director of both the Louisiana Coastal Area program and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Mississippi River Science and Technology program. She earned a B.S. in biology from Spring Hill College, an M.S. in biology from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a Ph.D. in oceanography and coastal sciences from Louisiana State University.

Catherine L. Kling is the Tisch University Professor of Environmental, Energy, and Resource Economics in the Dyson School of Applied Economics at Cornell University and the Faculty Director of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. She specializes in the economic valuation of ecosystem services and the integrated assessment modeling for water quality modeling. Dr. Kling currently chairs the National Academies’ Water Science and Technology Board and is a member of the PNAS editorial board. She has been a member of nine Academies study committees, including several focused on water resources and agricultural issues. She served as president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, held editorial positions at 10 economics journals, and has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters. She is currently the editor of the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. She is an elected Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resources Economists, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is also a University Fellow at Resources

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×

for the Future, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and served for 10 years on EPA’s Science Advisory Board. She received her B.A. in business and economics from the University of Iowa and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Larry McKinney is the Chair for Gulf Strategies at Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. In his current role, Dr. McKinney works with an interdisciplinary team that integrates science, policy, and socioeconomic expertise for an economically and environmentally sustainable Gulf of Mexico. He has over 50 years of experience working in the Gulf of Mexico region as both a researcher and resource manager. His research interests include fisheries, benthic ecology, marsh restoration, and assessing ecosystem change. Dr. McKinney has led or chaired numerous science and policy efforts in the Gulf of Mexico region, including the State of the Gulf Summits, the Texas OneGulf consortium, the Gulf of Mexico University Research Collaborative, the Texas Sea Grant Advisory Committee, and the EPA Science Advisory Committee for the Gulf of Mexico. He has also served on several boards, including those of the Gulf of Mexico University Research Consortium, Texas State Audubon Society, and Texas State Aquarium. He is a member of the Texas Academy of Science, where he is a past president. In 2019, he was invited to present testimony to the President’s Ocean Policy Taskforce. Dr. McKinney has a B.S. in zoology and a Ph.D. in biology from Texas A&M University.

Deepak R. Mishra is the Merle C. Prunty, Jr. Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia, Athens (UGA). He is also the Director of UGA’s Small Satellite Research Lab (SSRL), which is focused on designing and building CubeSats for environmental remote sensing applications. He is a faculty fellow of UGA’s AI Institute, faculty member of UGA Marine Institute, and affiliate director of GA Space Grant Consortium. Dr. Mishra’s research focuses on studying inland waters and coastal ecosystems using a wide array of geospatial technologies, from ground-based sensor networks to satellite-based modeling and mapping. He combines field-based remote sensing with satellite remote sensing to model and map water quality and vegetation biophysical characteristics of coastal systems. His current projects include developing a satellite-based decision-support tool for coastal salt marsh conservation and restoration in the southeastern United States; modeling and mapping cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms dynamics in inland waters; combining Eddy Flux tower and satellite-based data to model and predict gross primary productivity and carbon sequestration potential of wetlands; and developing the cyberinfrastructure for monitoring coastal marshes and inland water quality. Dr. Mishra has served in editorial positions at several journals, including ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing, and GIScience and Remote Sensing. He has been a member of many advisory committees, technical and review panels, and research groups. He has served as a Fulbright Specialist and investigator on international research projects in countries such as India, Brazil, and Uruguay. He received his M.Sc. in earth sciences from Pondicherry University, M. Tech. in civil engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. in natural resources from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Staff Biographies

Thelma Cox is a program coordinator with the Gulf Research Program. She provides administrative support for three consensus studies aimed to document progress toward ensuring an outcome of a safe, healthy, and resilient Gulf of Mexico over time in partial fulfillment of the charge of the Gulf Research Program (GRP). Prior to joining GRP, she was a program coordinator for the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences in the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. She also served as an administrative assistant for various boards within the formerly known Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the program unit of Health and Medicine Division. Since joining the National Academy of Sciences in 1986, she has worked on a diversity of activities and provided administrative support on numerous committees, roundtables, and forums. She is a recipient of the National Research Council Recognition Award and three

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×

IOM Staff Achievement Awards. She received an Associate of Science in Business Administration (ASBA) degree from Averett University.

Deborah Glickson is the Director of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and the Water Science and Technology Board at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Glickson also directs the standing Committee on Solid Earth Geophysics. Since joining the National Academies staff, she has worked on 17 consensus studies and workshops, including understanding the long-term evolution of the coupled natural–human system on the Gulf Coast for the GRP; decadal surveys on Earth and ocean science for the National Science Foundation, as well as next-generation Earth systems sciences; future water priorities and assuring laboratory data quality for the U.S. Geological Survey, and studies on marine hydrokinetic energy, methane hydrates, coal mining and human health, and geoscience education. Dr. Glickson received an M.S. in geology from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Washington. Her doctoral research focused on magmatic and tectonic contributions to mid-ocean ridge evolution and hydrothermal activity at the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. After finishing her Ph.D., Dr. Glickson was a NOAA John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow and worked on coastal and ocean policy and legislation in the U.S. Senate. She was also the Associate Director of the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology at Florida Atlantic University-Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.

Megan May was an associate program officer with the Ocean Studies Board from April 2020 to January 2022. During her time with the Ocean Studies Board she worked on consensus studies for environmental trends in the Gulf of Mexico and ocean plastics. Previous projects Megan has worked on include a workshop to identify community-driven science for NSF’s P2C2 program, a consensus study for oil in the sea, and activities related to the U.S. National Committee for the Decade of Ocean Sciences. Prior to working for the National Academies, Megan was a NOAA John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the United States Senate in the Office of Tammy Baldwin, where she worked on the Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources portfolio. Megan also taught at Bard College for their intensive Citizen Science course. Megan has a B.A in biology from DePauw University, a certificate in science, technology, and policy from MIT, and a Ph.D. in marine environmental microbiology from MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography.

Laura Windecker is a program officer with the Environmental Protection and Stewardship Board at the Gulf Research Program. Since joining the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2016, she has worked on all aspects of grants management for the Gulf Research Program, including developing funding opportunities and managing the program’s environmental grants portfolio. Prior to joining the National Academies, she was a NOAA John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow working as Advisor to the Director of the U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System, a federal interagency committee, where she served as project manager of a Report to Congress. Laura has a Ph.D. in marine science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where her research focused marine phytoplankton and their role in global carbon dynamics. Laura also has an M.S. in oceanography from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, and an A.B. in physics and marine science from Bowdoin College. Her first oceanographic research cruise was as an undergraduate aboard the SSV Westward with Sea Education Association.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×
Page 195
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26335.
×
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Valued for its ecological richness and economic value, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is under substantial pressure from human activities. The Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and oil spill significantly damaged Gulf ecosystems and led to the largest ecological restoration investment in history. The unprecedented number and diversity of restoration activities provide valuable information for future restoration efforts, but assessment efforts are hampered by many factors, including the need to evaluate the interaction of multiple stressors and consider long-term environmental trends such as sea level rise, increasing hurricane intensity, and rising water temperatures.

This report offers a comprehensive approach to assess restoration activities beyond the project scale in the face of a changing environment. A main component of this approach is using different types of scientific evidence to develop "multiple lines of evidence" to evaluate restoration efforts at regional scales and beyond, especially for projects that may be mutually reinforcing (synergistic) or in conflict (antagonistic). Because Gulf of Mexico ecosystems cross political boundaries, increased coordination and collaboration is needed, especially to develop standardized data collection, analysis, synthesis, and reporting. With these improvements, program-level adaptive management approaches can be used more effectively to assess restoration strategies against the backdrop of long-term environmental trends.

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