STAC Term: 2018-2021 Executive Board
Action Team Assignments: Living Shorelines
Monitoring and Assessment Team Assignments: Terrestrial Resources
STAC Member Since: September 2008
Title: Dean & Executive Director, Integrated Coastal Programs, Coastal Studies Institute; Professor, Department of Coastal Studies
Organization: East Carolina University
Education: PhD Chemical Oceanography, Florida State University (1999) MS Chemical Oceanography, Florida State University (1996) BS Chemistry, Florida State University (1994)
Primary Focus Area: Marine Geochemistry, sediment and nutrient dynamics
Secondary Focus Area(s): Coastal Processes; Groundwater-Surface water interactions
Career Experiences: I am a coastal oceanographer/ geochemist with an overall scientific interest in the cycling of biologically active constituents (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus) in coastal and open ocean environments. I am especially interested in evaluating and quantifying pathways of nutrient delivery to the coastal ocean that have been either under estimated or potentially ignored altogether, such as groundwater discharge and advective transport associated with sediment disturbances. These processes may play a critical role in understanding biogeochemical cycles and therefore must be described in order to fully constrain these cycles locally and globally. My recent hurricane-related research in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrates the importance of these meteorological events in coastal sediment dynamics. Ultimately, my hope is that information acquired through this research will lead to a clearer understanding of estuarine and coastal processes, providing better management and preservation of these critical environments.