port environmental policy. Dr. Emery previously was a research geographer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service for 25 years, where much of her research was conducted in partnership with Indigenous communities. Her research interests include contemporary uses of wild plants and mushrooms in the United States, the ecosystem services that foraging practices provide, and their implications for land management. Dr. Emery co-chaired the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Assessment of Sustainable Use of Wild Species (2018–2022), for which she led an international team of scientists to assess and synthesize the state of knowledge on factors affecting the global sustainability of human uses of animals, fungi, and plants. In this effort, she also headed up the work to incorporate Indigenous and local knowledge. She served as technical consultant on nontimber forest products to the fourth Indian Forest Management Assessment Team report to the U.S. Congress (2020–2022), developing the protocol for consultations with Tribal leaders and resource staff throughout the contiguous United States and Alaska. Dr. Emery received a Ph.D. in geography from Rutgers University.

Margaret W. Gitau is professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University. Her research focuses on water resources with emphasis on water quality, integrated hydrologic and water quality modeling, and data-driven decision making and management. In particular, she works on assessing and predicting long- and short-term watershed responses to perturbations such as land use/land cover and climate change and developing strategies and solutions to enable similar analysis in data scarce areas. Dr. Gitau has served on the Advisory Board of University of Florida’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. She holds a Ph.D. in agricultural and biological engineering from the Pennsylvania State University.

Matthew C. Harwell is a supervisory ecologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD), where he has worked for 13 years. He currently manages the ORD coastal environmental research laboratory in Newport, Oregon. Prior to his work at the EPA, Dr. Harwell spent 10 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working on Greater Everglades Ecosystem restoration. Cumulatively, Dr. Harwell has spent over 25 years working on restoration science in multiple systems including Chesapeake Bay, Lake Okeechobee, South Florida and the Greater Everglades, and the Pacific Northwest. His areas of specialization include ecosystem restoration, ecosystem services, ecosystem assessment, integration and communication of science for decision makers, and adaptive management. Dr. Harwell has been on the planning team for the National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration

since 2004 and was a foundational board member of the Large Scale Ecosystem Restoration Section of the Society of Ecological Restoration. Dr. Harwell has a B.S. in biology from University of South Florida and a Ph.D. in marine sciences from Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.

William A. Hopkins III is professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech. He is also the associate executive director of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the founding director of the Global Change Center at Virginia Tech. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech, Dr. Hopkins was faculty at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. His research focuses on how anthropogenic disturbances such as climate change, pollution, and habitat loss affect wildlife. He is an award-winning educator, researcher, and leader, to include the highest awards offered to faculty at both Virginia Tech and in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He received a B.S. in biology from Mercer University, an M.S. in zoology from Auburn University, and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. He has previously served on National Academies’ committees addressing issues related to freshwater resources, mining, and research data quality in federal agencies.

Tracy Quirk is an associate professor and wetland ecologist in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University (LSU). Prior to joining LSU in 2014, she was an assistant professor in the Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Sciences Department at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Dr. Quirk’s research focuses on wetland plant ecology and soil biogeochemistry including the effects of environmental stresses, human impacts, and wetland restoration. She has had more than 30 grants funded totaling more than $5 million and has approximately 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has served as an expert panelist and on advisory boards for several regional and national committees She is interested in the Everglades’ ecology, management, and restoration, and she teaches a 2-week field course in the Everglades to LSU undergraduate and graduate students every other year. Dr. Quirk received her Ph.D. in marine biosciences from the University of Delaware in 2010, her M.S. in ecology and environmental sciences from the University of Louisiana in 2005, and her B.S. in wildlife and fisheries biology from the University of Vermont in 1998.

K. Ramesh Reddy is graduate research professor and director at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Florida. His research areas include biogeochemistry, soil and water quality, ecological indicators, restoration of wetlands, and aquatic systems. Dr. Reddy investigates biogeochemical cycling of macro-nutrients in natural ecosystems, including wetlands,

shallow lakes, estuaries, and constructed wetlands, as related to soil and water quality, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas emissions. He has served as a member of the U.S. National Committee for Soil Sciences and on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board Panel. He serves as co-chair for the biennial Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration science conference. Dr. Reddy earned his Ph.D. in agronomy and soil science from Louisiana State University in 1976.

Helen M. Regan is professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Regan’s research areas span quantitative conservation ecology and probabilistic risk assessment. She uses integrated modeling frameworks to link empirical data, population models, species distribution models, climate data, urban growth models, and fire data to investigate the impacts of climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, and altered fire regime on plants. Dr. Regan’s prior work has focused on the characterization and treatment of uncertainty in the assessment of risks in ecology and conservation biology. She currently serves on the Standards and Petitions Committee for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and Criteria and co-chairs the IUCN Species Survival Commission Climate Change Specialist Group. Dr. Regan received her B.S. from LaTrobe University and her Ph.D. from the University of New England, both in Australia.

Alan D. Steinman is the Allen and Helen Hunting Research Professor of Water Resources at the Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI), Grand Valley State University. Previously, he was director of AWRI for 22 years and prior to that director of the Lake Okeechobee Restoration Program at the South Florida Water Management District. Dr. Steinman’s research interests include aquatic ecosystem restoration, harmful algal blooms, phosphorus cycling, and water resources policy. He is a fellow of the Society of Freshwater Science. Dr. Steinman was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and earned a Ph.D. in botany/aquatic ecology from Oregon State University, an M.S. in botany from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.S. in botany from the University of Vermont.

Jeffrey R. Walters is the Harold Bailey Professor of Biology at Virginia Tech, a position he has held since 1994. His professional experience includes assistant, associate, and full professorships at North Carolina State University from 1980 until 1994. His research interests are in the behavioral ecology, population biology, and conservation of birds, and his recent work has focused on cooperative breeding, dispersal behavior, and endangered species issues. Dr. Walters has done extensive research on endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers in

North Carolina and Florida, and he chaired an American Ornithologists’ Union Conservation Committee Review that looked at the biology, status, and management of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, an endangered bird endemic to the Everglades. Dr. Walters served on two panels of the Sustainable Ecosystems Institute that addressed issues with endangered birds in the Everglades restoration in addition to previously serving as a member of the National Academies’ Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. He holds a B.A. from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

David L. Wegner is a senior scientist at Woolpert Engineering. He is retired from a senior staff position on water, energy, and transportation committees in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he worked on legislation that directly affected administration policy and federal agency actions related to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Prior to serving in Washington, DC, he worked for more than 20 years for DOI managing water and science programs in the Colorado River basin and the Grand Canyon, where he was instrumental in formulating the adaptive management approach for other river systems impacted by dams and river operations. He serves on the EPA Environmental Finance Advisory Board and sits on the advisory boards for the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation and the International Association of Hydro-Environment Research. Mr. Wegner received his M.S. in engineering/fluvial geomorphology from Colorado State University.

STAFF

Stephanie E. Johnson (Study Director) is a senior program officer with the Water Science and Technology Board. Since joining the National Research Council in 2002, she has worked on a wide range of water-related studies, on topics such as desalination, wastewater reuse, contaminant source remediation, coal and uranium mining, coastal risk reduction, and ecosystem restoration. She has served as study director for many studies, including the Panel to Review the Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative and all nine Committees on Independent Scientific Review of Everglades Restoration Progress. Dr. Johnson received her B.A. from Vanderbilt University in chemistry and geology and her M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia.

Noel Walters is an associate program officer in the Division on Earth and Life Studies for the Water Science and Technology Board and the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. She previously worked in the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program developing grant programs for the Gulf Health and Resilience

Unit and the Gulf Environmental Protection and Stewardship Unit. Prior to joining the National Academies, Walters worked as a data quality analyst for the Energy Information Administration reviewing monthly and annual electric power industry reports. She earned her B.A. from McDaniel College in sociology and her M.A. in sociology from the George Washington University, with concentrations in social inequality and urban sociology.

Emily Bermudez is a senior program assistant with the Water Science and Technology Board and Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. Prior to joining the National Academies in August 2022, she conducted geomorphology research at Oberlin College using sediment fingerprinting to test if erosion rates in Cuba changed due to the transition to organic agriculture from sugarcane monoculture. She received her B.A. in geology from Oberlin College.

Samuel Kraft is a senior program assistant with the Water Science and Technology Board and Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. Prior to joining the National Academies in April 2024, he worked as a ground penetrating radar analyst for a company that specializes in concrete services. Kraft received his B.A. in geology from Millersville University of Pennsylvania.

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