Category: SeaSquad

UF Center for Coastal Solutions’ alumna Julie Walker has always embraced a challenge, even if it means facing down an alligator to check on her field experiments. During her doctoral studies, she once spotted what appeared to be an alligator’s head floating near her work site in the marsh. After waiting for 30 minutes, she […]

Growing up in Taiwan, where typhoons and coastal storms were a regular occurrence, Chu-En Hsu developed a deep fascination with the ocean and the forces shaping his surroundings. This interest eventually led him far from home to the University of Florida, where he earned his doctorate degree in coastal and oceanographic engineering. As a graduate […]

Growing up along Florida’s coast, Jack Parker experienced several hurricanes that affected his family’s life. Two of these storms, Dennis in 2005 and Michael in 2018, caused a great amount of damage to his home, and led to several days without power followed by weeks of cleaning up. These experiences made Parker want to contribute to […]

From the mines of Ghana to the beaches of Florida, Stephen Adusei journeyed a long way to follow his dream of becoming a geotechnical engineer. Driven by a strong interest in soil and rock mechanics and geospatial data analysis, Adusei’s passion led to a career in research with frequent field work and use of some […]

This month’s SeaSquad features Brian Beach, CCS’ newest advisory board member and president of Beachside Strategy, which guides organizations in developing their vision and models for innovation and transformation. Beach shares his deep connection to UF, his motivation for joining the board and features of the coast that he hopes his children and future generations […]

As a research technician at the Center for Coastal Solutions, Charli Pezoldt gets to live out their childhood dream job of working on the water. Pezoldt is part of a field operations team that helps scientists at the University of Florida collect data and coordinate logistics for numerous experiments and projects.    “The innate desire […]

After graduating with a degree in political science and working for two and a half years in nonprofits, Emory Wellman was unsure whether a career shift to the natural sciences would pay off, but she knew she would regret it if she didn’t try. These days, Emory is a full-time graduate student studying ecology, and enjoys […]

Joe Marchionno vividly recalls the sense of wonder he felt as he got an up-close look at a bird for the first time while a colleague at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) attached a small band to the bird’s leg to track its movements. “One of the rewards of doing conservation work […]

Researcher and educator Nina Stark has crisscrossed the world to help coastal communities build more resilient infrastructure in the face of rising coastal hazards and climate change-related threats. Her expertise in marine geotechnics, the mechanics of seabed sediments, has taken her from the frigid and windy conditions of the Arctic to the sunny Florida coasts. […]

Todd Van Natta loves going to work, wherever that happens to be on any given day. As director of field research for the Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS), Todd oversees field work for multiple complex projects in different locations throughout Florida and the Southeast region.   “I’m the luckiest person in the world, I really […]

Congratulations to Britney Hay, winner of a 2023 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Award, a prestigious and highly competitive fellowship that helps support outstanding graduate research across the country. With this support, Hay, who’s a doctoral candidate in Environmental Engineering Sciences, will advance her research on mangrove ecology and coastal restoration, and hopes to […]

Shannon Myers was first drawn to the ocean as a child, a fascination that has continued throughout his formal education and immersion in marine ecology work.   “I feel called to explore and deepen our understanding of the ocean, especially the dynamics and drivers of global environmental change, toward a more sustainable future,” said Myers. […]

Undergraduate student Donovan Mitchell can trace the genesis of his goal to earn a doctorate degree in marine sciences to his visits as a child to the Georgia Aquarium.   “I saw what the ocean was really about, and their message about education, and I always admired that.”   As a fourth-year marine science student at the […]

Ray Carthy is fascinated by edges.  “Edges are important. Beaches are the edge of the land and edge of the sea, and important things happen at beaches. It’s where a lot of change happens, a lot of transitions,” said Carthy, who is assistant unit leader for the Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, a […]

Two words capture UF student Yvanna Serra: adaptable and open-minded. From the wetlands of Panama to the Peace River in southwest Florida, Yvanna’s journey in studying water links to her goal of finding a balance between human development and conservation.   Serra is a first-year master’s student in environmental engineering sciences and is currently researching the […]

Small but mighty, oyster gardens enhance oyster recruitment, the process of incorporating new oysters into a population to maintain population sizes; improve water quality and have a valuable role to play in environmental education. Adrian Sakr, a graduate student in the Altieri and Angelini labs, is experimenting with five materials to determine which oyster garden […]

Britney Hay, PhD student, Environmental Engineering Sciences  Britney Hay is a first year PhD student in the UF Environmental Engineering Sciences department, currently working with Dr. Andrew Altieri toward her mission of understanding wetland dynamics to ultimately design site-specific management and restorative initiatives in her home country of Antigua & Barbuda. Her research studies ecological responses to […]

Daniele Pinton, PhD student, Civil and Coastal Engineering Department  Daniele Pinton is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida (ESSIE). He is currently studying how sea level rise affects the release of fecal bacteria from septic systems by combining groundwater and surface water models, calibrated by […]

The CCS is ecstatic to welcome Sharon Ryan as Associate Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives. Sharon will lead strategic planning, communications, and outreach for the Center, as well as support  its partnership and development initiatives.   Sharon is a facilitator, communicator, and strategist specializing in participatory strategic planning, action planning, stakeholder engagement, consensus building, […]

Emily’s research at UF utilizes high-resolution mass spectrometry to investigate per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants in the aquatic environment. At UF, Emily developed a methodology for PFAS extraction from Florida manatee blood using dried blood spot cards, offering a minimally invasive procedure for whole blood collection and analysis.

Michael Shirley, Ph.D. Deputy Director, Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection Florida Department of Environmental Protection Michael Shirley has had a long career devoted to environmental protection with a focused science-based management approach. He received a Ph.D. in Marine Science with a minor in Environmental Toxicology from North Carolina State University, a Master of Science […]

Amanda Chappel, an Environmental Engineering Sciences PhD student in Dr. Elise Morrison’s lab, is studying the ecosystem effects of coastal eutrophication and its implications on nutrient cycling dynamics in estuarine systems, with the goal of supporting effective management strategies that will advance solutions to minimize anthropogenic impacts to coastal systems. We asked Amanda to tell […]

Jen Lomberk, an attorney specializing in environmental law and policy, recently joined the CCS Advisory Board. Lomberk has worked on projects spanning a broad spectrum of environmental issues ranging from stormwater regulation in the state of Florida to national park management in The Bahamas to the innovative use of conservation easements to protect sea turtle […]

Dr. Lili Du’s research integrates optimization, network modeling, machine learning, control, and data analytics approaches into transportation system analysis with the main focuses on autonomous vehicle (AV), connected vehicle (CV), connected and automated vehicle (CAV), and electric vehicle (EV) impacts, mobility on demand, network resilience, and traffic flow analysis. Du’s research has been published in Transportation […]