United States of America
COAST Card- USA is made up of researchers from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, USA.
See the list below for more information on this team.
Professor Bill Dennison
Dr. Bill Dennison is a Professor of Marine Science and Interim President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Since 2003, has served as Vice President for Science Application and led the Integration and Application Network (IAN), charged to inspire, manage, and produce timely syntheses and assessments on key environmental issues with a special emphasis on the Chesapeake Bay and its waters. He has published hundreds of papers and books on coastal ecosystem ecology and has presented at international, national, and regional meetings, and various universities, research institutions, and government agencies. He was a research assistant professor at UMCES’ Horn Point Laboratory from 1987 to 1992 before spending 10 years at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where he developed an active Marine Botany group with strong links to the Healthy Waterways Campaign for Moreton Bay. He rejoined UMCES in 2002 to develop the Integration and Application Network. He holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Chicago, a post-doc in coastal marine science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, an M.S. in biological oceanography from the University of Alaska, and a B.A. in environmental science from Western Michigan University.
Dr. Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen
Dr. Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen is a Science Integrator with the Integration and Application Network and an associate faculty of the Marine Estuarine and Environmental Science Graduate Program. Her current interest is in transdisciplinary approaches, socio-environmental assessments, socio-environmental justice, stakeholder engagement, and adaptive environmental governance. Vanessa is originally from the Philippines and has extensive experience in molecular biology and marine science, specializing in microbial communities and molecular processes associated with Harmful Algal Blooms and shrimp, corals, and human diseases. She has since shifted her focus on how science can benefit society and was conferred with the first Ph.D. under the new Environment and Society foundation of the MEES graduate program. Her dissertation used ethnographic approaches to investigate the role of socio-environmental report cards in transdisciplinary collaboration and adaptive governance for a sustainable future. She received academic training from the University of the Philippines (BSc; MSc) and the University of Maryland (MSc; PhD). She is involved in developing holistic socio-environmental assessments for complex systems such as the Mississippi River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds and is coordinating a multi-year international transdisciplinary research consortium involving the US, Norway, Philippines, Japan, and India.
Lili Badri
Lili is a science communicatior at UMCES Integration and Application Network. She earned her Master’s degree in Environmental Science at SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry. There she studied long-term dissolved organic matter (DOM) dynamics of an intensively monitored, forested watershed in the Adirondack Mountains. She also earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the University of South Alabama where she studied the characterization of DOM and trace analysis of artificial sweeteners in natural waters. She enjoys spending time outdoors and cooking new recipes.
Sidney Anderson
Sidney Anderson earned her MSc from Georgia Southern University and her BA from College of the Atlantic. She has researched the thermal biology of the Florida scrub lizard and modelled their potential responses to climate change, as well as studied the reproductive biology of yellow-spotted salamanders and painted turtles in Acadia National Park. She is originally from New Jersey and enjoys camping, birding, playing soccer, fencing, and making art.
Roshni Nair
Roshni (Rosh) is a Science Communicator with IAN in Annapolis, Maryland. She is originally from Mumbai, India and she immigrated to New York City where she was raised. Rosh earned her B.A in Urban Sustainability with a concentration in environmental science from Brooklyn College and worked for several environmental organizations within NYC such as Hudson River Park Trust and Brooklyn Grange. She recently completed her Masters in Landscape Architecture (MLA) from The Ohio State University. Over the last few years, she has worked for a landscape architecture firm on various projects in the Midwest. She is a licensed drone pilot and has been flying drones for the last five years. She enjoys creating art in various mediums such as painting, sewing, ceramics and more.
Veronica Lucchese
Veronica Malabanan Lucchese is currently a 2nd year PhD student and NOAA-LMRCSC Fellow studying Environment and Society at the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science. From 2019-2022, she worked as a NOAA contractor for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Her work as a federal contractor focused mainly on scientific communications, outreach, website design, and economic data analysis. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and majored in Marine Affairs, Geology, and Anthropology. Passionate about life sciences, environmental justice, and public education, Veronica is dedicated to improving environmental management practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Through her role at IAN, she will assist with indicator analysis for the 2023 Chesapeake Bay Report Card and the creation of communications products such as short films.