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Professor
Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
Cornell University
Catherine L. Kling is a Tisch University Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. She serves as Faculty Director and Cornell Atkinson Scholar in the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, and leads the Social Cost of Water Pollution working group. Kling chairs the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Medicine and Engineering, has been a member of six National Research Council studies, and served for ten years on EPA’s Science Advisory board. Catherine is a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resources Economists, a Fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, a University Fellow at Resources for the Future, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015.
Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Wisconsin
Steven P. Loheide is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin - Madison where he is the Director of the Hydroecology Lab. His research is focused on interactions between ecological and hydrological processes in natural and built systems, and the competition for water among municipal and industrial users, agriculture, and natural ecosystems. He and his research group develop methods to quantify and understand the processes controlling the exchange of water between groundwater, vadose water, vegetation, streams, and the atmosphere using a combination of field data, remote sensing, and numerical modeling.
Director
Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department
Virginia H. Barker, Director of Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department, holds undergraduate degrees in Science and Math from Duke University and a Master’s in Coastal Environmental Management. With 27 years of service to Brevard County, she has managed beach resources, the stormwater utility program, and mosquito control, among other environmental initiatives. Virginia led the development of the Save Our Indian River Lagoon Project Plan, guiding pollution elimination efforts funded by a voter-approved sales tax. She spearheaded the establishment of a Citizen Oversight Committee for the project. Virginia’s commitment to environmental stewardship has been recognized through various awards and accomplishments.
Chief Resilience Officer
State of Florida
A native of Miami, Wes serves as Florida’s Chief Resilience Officer, leading the Statewide Office of Resilience on behalf of Governor Ron DeSantis to enhance agency coordination on resilience, and bolster flood protection and mitigation efforts across inland and coastal communities throughout the state.
President
FWEA Utility Council and Supervising Engineer
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)
Rick Hutton is a professional engineer in the Office of Sustainability at Gainesville Regional Utilities. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Florida and has been engaged in water supply planning, water and wastewater treatment, and water quality protection for over 32 years. He is past president of the Florida Water Environment Association Utility Council.
Executive Director
St. Johns River Water Management District
Michael A. Register was appointed Executive Director by the District’s Governing Board in 2021. He has been with the St. Johns River Water Management District since 1990. During his tenure, Michael has worked in various areas, including environmental resource permitting, consumptive use permitting, water supply planning, engineering, and environmental sciences. As director of the Division of Water Supply Planning and Assessment, he oversaw work groups responsible for surface water and groundwater modeling, developing minimum flow and levels (MFLs) and prevention/recovery strategies, and conducting water supply planning efforts. Michael holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of Florida. He is a registered professional engineer in Florida.
Chief
Ecosystem Branch
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Jacksonville District
Eva B. Vélez, a licensed professional engineer in Florida, serves as the Chief of the Ecosystems Branch in the Programs and Project Management Division of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District. With over 23 years of experience, Eva oversees aquatic ecosystem restoration efforts in the South Florida Ecosystem and leads resiliency initiatives in Central and Southern Florida. Previously, she managed Everglades restoration programs and founded her own engineering firm, specializing in water resources. Eva’s contributions have earned her accolades like the Young Engineer of the Year award from the Florida Section of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). She is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Florida and holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the University of Florida. Eva is bilingual in English and Spanish, residing in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, with her family.
Executive Director
Audubon Florida
Julie Wraithmell serves as the Executive Director of Audubon Florida, the state’s leading voice in conservation. Julie joined Audubon in 2005 and has successfully led statewide conservation and wildlife policy initiatives, built Audubon Florida’s robust coastal conservation program, coordinated Audubon’s response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and helped secure millions in funding for protecting Florida’s land and water resources. In 2018, 2019, and again in 2020, Julie was selected as one of Miami Herald’s Top 50 Florida Influencers.
Associate Professor
Agricultural & Resource Economics Department, UC Berkeley
Joseph Shapiro is an Associate Professor in the Agricultural & Resource Economics Department and the Economics Department at UC Berkeley. He is a Faculty Affiliate at the Energy Institute at Haas, serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Political Economy, Co-Editor of the Journal of Public Economics, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research agenda focuses on three general questions: (1) How do international trade policy and environmental policy interact? (2) What are the costs, benefits, and incidence of water pollution and other environmental policy? (3) How important are the investments that people make to protect themselves against air pollution and climate change?
Shapiro has received an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and Marshall Scholarship, and funding from the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency. He was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Yale. Shapiro holds a Ph.D. in economics from MIT, a Master’s degree from Oxford and LSE, and a BA from Stanford.
Freshwater Conservation Ecologist
Florida International University
Elizabeth Anderson is a freshwater conservation ecologist based at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL, in the Department of Earth & Environment. Her work has a strong conservation focus and involves collaborations with other scientists and those in key water resource management roles. Her research has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and National Geographic. Dr. Anderson received both undergraduate and PhD (Ecology) degrees from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, GA, USA. She has since worked for the Organization for Tropical Stdies as coordinator of international research and study programs for U.S. and Costa Rican students at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica; and as Conservation Sustainability Director at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, USA. At Florida International University, she worked with the USAID-funded Global Water for Sustainability Program to support pilot projects for integrated water resources management in South America, East Africa and India, and later was Program Officer for East Africa programs. Between 2013-2016, Dr. Anderson served as the Director of International Research Programs in the School of Environment, Arts and Society at Florida International University. In this post, she built partnership programs with diverse collaborators-other universities, government institutions, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector-for conservation of globally important landscapes in the Andean Amazon and East Africa regions.
Dr. Anderson is a three-time recipient of a Fulbright from the U.S. Department of State, including a Fulbright Research Award to Costa Rica in 2001; a Fulbright Scholar Award to Peru in 2014; and a Fulbright Specialist Award to Colombia in 2015.
Director
Center for Public Interest Communications, University of Florida
Ann Searight Christiano is the founder and director of the Center for Public Interest Communications and a clinical professor in the Department of Public Relations at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Public Interest Communications applies science-based strategic communication and storytelling to advance positive social change.
She developed the first university curriculum in this emerging field, connecting practitioners and scholars while cultivating research that supports its growth. Before joining UF in 2010, Christiano served as a senior communications officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where she led initiatives addressing the social factors that shape health and well-being.
Christiano completed a decade as the inaugural Frank Karel Chair in Public Interest Communications in 2020 and has earned honors including UF Teacher of the Year and International Educator of the Year. Her writing appears in outlets like Barron’s, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and The Conversation. Through the Center, she has partnered with organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Gates Foundation, and the U.S. Department of State, and she regularly trains scientists and leaders to communicate their work’s impact more effectively.
Director of Research Communications
Arizona Water Innovation Initiative
Faith Kearns is a scientist and research communication practitioner. She writes and talks primarily about water, wildfire, and climate change. Her work has been published at New Republic, On Being, Bay Nature, and more. Kearns' award-winning book Getting to the Heart of Science Communication: A Guide to Engagement (Island Press) is widely available. She co-hosts the award-winning Water Talk podcast with Mallika Nocco and Samuel Sandoval.
In previous roles, Kearns has developed science communication projects at the Ecological Society of America, served as a AAAS Science and Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, managed a wildfire research and outreach center at the University of California - Berkeley, bridged science and policy advocacy efforts at the Pew Charitable Trusts, and led science communication efforts with the California Institute for Water Resources in the University of California's Division of Ag and Natural Resources/Cooperative Extension.
Kearns currently serves as the Director of Research Communication with the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at ASU.
Environmental Reporter
WLRN
Jenny Staletovich has been a journalist working in Florida for nearly 20 years. She’s reported on some of the region’s major environment stories, including the 2018 devastating red tide and blue-green algae blooms, impacts from climate change and Everglades restoration, the nation’s largest water restoration project. She’s also written about disappearing rare forests, invasive pythons, diseased coral and a host of other critical issues around the state. She covered the environment, climate change and hurricanes for the Miami Herald for five years and previously freelanced for the paper. She worked at the Palm Beach Post from 1989 to 2000, covering crime, government and general assignment stories. She has won several state and national awards including the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment, the Green Eyeshades and the Sunshine State Awards. Staletovich graduated from Smith College and lives in Miami, with her husband and their three children.