Dr. Rusty A. Feagin graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1996 and received his Ph.D. in Rangeland Ecology and Management from Texas A&M University in 2013. He is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology and the Department of Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M University. The central question of study in his lab is how coastal vegetation moderates and responds to erosion. His scientific work is translated into action through restoration and engineering projects that are focused on the sustainable management of coasts. He has been awarded the highest environmental honor in the State of Texas, and his work has inspired a Texas State Senate proclamation in his honor. He was recently the Robert Dean Coastal Scholar of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. He has over 100 publications including in Nature, Science, and PNAS. His work has been featured in the public media by NPR and The New York Times. He sat on the U.S. President’s U.S. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory and has been a Visiting Fellow at multiple universities across four countries.
Josh Lerner is a Ph.D. candidate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology interdisciplinary program at Texas A&M University in College Station. His research focuses on patterns in ecosystem-level resistance and resilience to disturbance. Using several NASA satellite products, he is exploring how ecosystems and human infrastructure have evolved to optimize their resistance and resilience at the global scale. He is also involved in several restoration projects along the Texas coast. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University, and then worked at the National Institutes of Health as a research fellow.
Dr. Thomas P. Huff is an Adjunct Research Scientist at Coastal Ecology & Management Lab, Texas A&M University and a Research Biologist at the Engineering and Research Development Center of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Wildlife Management and Conservation and his Ph.D. in Ecosystem Science and Management from Texas A&M University in 2013 and 2017, respectively. Subsequently, he served as a two-year postdoctoral researcher from September 2017. His skills range from welding to programming supercomputers. He formerly led several restoration efforts and has been awarded the Texas Environmental Excellence Award.
