Molly J. Wick, PhD

Research

Research Bio

I am a transdisciplinary social-ecological scientist with training and experience in qualitative and quantitative methods. My research focuses on applying mixed methods and community-engaged approaches to study reciprocal relationships between humans and aquatic ecosystems in the context of diverse communities. I’m interested in understanding the values that underpin human-nature relationships across cultures and backgrounds so that they may better be incorporated in environmental decision-making that accurately represents the interests of diverse community members. I am also interested in how relationships between people and coastal ecosystems change over time associated with changes in environmental and sociopolitical conditions over time, like in the cases of clean-up of environmental contaminants and climate change. My research seeks to inform specific place-based and community-driven needs centering equity and sustainability, while advancing scholarship that helps address major societal challenges like environmental justices and climate change.

I completed my PhD in Water Resource Science at the University of Minnesota Duluth in July, 2024. My PhD research investigated how sociodemographic attributes and personal identity influenced relationships with and barriers to accessing a Great Lakes coastal ecosystem. For more details on that work, see below.

I completed a Postdoctoral Fellow with Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, hosted at the U.S. EPA Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division in Duluth, Minnesota in July 2025. In this position I led two projects. The first one focused on developing a study design for assessing how state fish consumption advisories influence fishing and fish consumption for different groups of people who fish, The second focused on evaluating the transferability of published ecosystem services mapping approaches across Great Lakes communities and the application of ecosystem services mapping for assessing climate change impacts.

I have experience conducting ecological assessment research including supporting the U.S. EPA's National Coastal Condition Assessment, and managing habitat restoration projects in the St. Louis River Area of Concern for the Wisconsin DNR. I have M.S. degrees in Earth and Planetary Science (University of New Mexico) and Water Resource Science (University of Minnesota Duluth). In 2020, I was awarded a Margaret Davidson Fellowship through the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and in 2024 was selected as a Scientists Promoting Policy, Access, Research, and Knowledge (SP2ARK) Fellow by the Consortium for Aquatic Science Societies.

Projects

Waterway Benefits Study

How does identity influence human well-being benefits of coastal environments? A case study in the St. Louis River Estuary

My graduate research applied quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the human wellbeing benefits associated with aquatic resources in the Great Lakes. The project was focused on understanding how cultural ecosystem services, or the intangible benefits of ecosystems for human wellbeing, vary with individual identity (e.g., race, age, income, gender), and how cultural ecosystem service assessments can inform interventions to improve the quality, quantity, and equity of well-being benefits in a community.

The study included a survey of 532 diverse community members about their experiences with water in the past year, along with follow-up interviews with 42 survey participants. The study was developed and conducted with input from a community advisory group and an Indigenous advisory group. The results are informing improved models for CES assessment and help advance equitable environmental decision-making and evaluation. Learn more:

Visit the project website
Check out the plain-language tri-fold handout summarizing results and recommendations from the study
View publications: Dissertation on Proquest or our manuscript on navigating university open research policies and tribal sovereignty.

Pickle Pond (photo from USEPA)

Pickle Pond Revitalization Study

The USEPA Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division and local partners (WI DNR, City of Superior, Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve) are conducting an interdisciplinary, mixed methods study to assess community impacts of a local habitat restoration project at Pickle Pond near Barker's Island in Superior, Wisconsin. The restoration includes removing contaminated sediment and fish and shoreline habitat improvements. The research includes an intercept survey of site users, trail counters, trail cameras, and a web camera to assess site use, aesthetic surveys, as well as environmental monitoring. Data are being collected before, during and after project implementation, to understand community benefits as well as any unintended consequences of the restoration project. The project is one of the first of its kind to assess community impacts of a restoration project in the Great Lakes. I helped develop the study design, developed the content for the project website, collected survey data, and am co-authoring reports and publication of results.

Lake Superior Headwaters Sustainability Partnership

I led the development of priority goals and objectives for environmental justice for the Lake Superior Headwaters Sustainability Partnership, a local partnership working to establish an inclusive and intentional framework for work to achieve a thriving estuary landscape and community. These EJ objectives will help guide how the partnership addresses environmental inequality in conservation work in the St. Louis Estuary region going forward. I am currently supporting efforts led by Minnesota Land Trust alongside many partners to implement those priorities, including designing and facilitating of community engagement events, analyzing community engagement data, supporting development of an EJ mapping tool, and developing community engagement principles.

Library of human-nature research journals

This is a resource that I compiled for my research team that I thought might be of use to others. It is an inexhaustive list of journals publishing human-nature research as of spring 2025. The document includes the titles, a brief summary of their aims and scopes copied from journal websites, their impact factor, and a link to their website. (Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.)

Background

Large Lakes Assessment Fellowship, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, 2016-2020

EPA Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division (GLTED), Duluth, Minnesota.

Collected and analyzed field data and reported results for the National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) and the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) in the Great Lakes.
Sampled and analyzed in situ and laboratory water quality, sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity, benthic macroinvertebrate, phytoplankton, and algal toxin data in Great Lakes’ estuaries, nearshore, and offshore from small boats and large research vessels.
Led the assessment of water quality based on nutrient concentrations, dissolved oxygen, and water clarity in the connecting channels and published results in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.
Co-developed and standardized underwater video collection methods for assessing benthic conditions in the Great Lakes, which are now being employed by federal and university partners throughout the Great Lakes.
Developed Deep Lake Explorer, hosted on Zooniverse.org, a citizen science app that allows the public to help classify and analyze underwater video collected from the bottom of the Great Lakes and published results.

woman holding spoonful of sediment over bowl on small boat on water

Habitat Restoration Project Coordinator, St. Louis River Area of Concern, 2014-2016

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Superior, Wisconsin.

Managed ecological assessments and habitat restoration projects to support removal of beneficial use impairments.
Worked with partners to secure over $500,000 for restoration and monitoring efforts.
Coordinated restoration and monitoring efforts including proposal development, securing funding, writing scopes of work, overseeing contracts, conducting projects, and managing budgets.
Led projects including wild rice and conifer restoration, an estuary-wide semi-aquatic mammal survey, acquisition of airborne LiDAR data, a fish passage assessment, invasive species control, and three projects in the Nemadji River watershed: a watershed modeling assessment, a GIS-based habitat assessment, and outreach activities.

woman holding sturgeon (fish) in front of waterbody

See CV for list of recent publications

EPA's Meet the Researcher

Page updated

Report abuse