2024 WHOI Ocean and Climate Outreach Series presented by the Yawkey Foundation
Our panelists will discuss the latest research and observations on how sea level rise and changing weather patterns are transforming vital coastal environments and the life that inhabits them. Learn about the specific challenges faced by local wildlife, the shifting dynamics of coastal habitats, infrastructure challenges, and the innovative conservation strategies being implemented to protect these areas. Engage in a dialogue about the future of our coastal ecosystems and discover how communities and scientists are working together to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Moderated by PBS NewsHour Science Correspondent Miles O'Brien, don't miss this opportunity to engage with leading voices in environmental science and conservation as we examine the urgent need for action in protecting our coastal environments.
Please join us for a cocktail reception following the presentation.
Shannon Hulst is Floodplain Specialist for Barnstable County, MA with Cape Cod Cooperative Extension and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant. She is a Certified Floodplain Manager with a master’s degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island. She provides technical assistance on all things related to flooding, flood insurance, and floodplain regulations to municipalities, residents, and businesses on Cape Cod. She also manages a regional Community Rating System program, making these communities safer from flooding and sea level rise and saving residents in nine towns nearly $450,000 on flood insurance premiums annually, for a total savings of $1.8 million since the program began in 2015. Shannon has received two national awards for her work in regional floodplain management; the CRS Award for Excellence from FEMA and the James Lee Witt Local Award for Excellence in Floodplain Management from the Association of State Floodplain Managers.
Thomas is a wildlife biologist and research scientist with the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center and Clemson University’s Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, both in Georgetown, South Carolina. For the last 34 years, he has worked on various research projects in the United States, Central America, Africa, and Asia focusing on the biology, ecotoxicology, and conservation of wildlife, particularly the impacts of environmental pollution, habitat alteration, and over-exploitation on endangered crocodilians and turtles.
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In 2010, he joined the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center on a long-term study of American alligators in coastal habitats. This project has provided novel insights into the reproduction, diet, growth, behavior, movement, survival, and longevity of animals living at the interface of freshwater, estuarine, and marine systems, and how environmental changes (e.g., pollution, habitat loss, increasing human population, climate change) may influence different life history traits of these apex predators.
Dozier is project leader of the 24,000-acre Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center in South Carolina. Jamie Dozier received a BS and MS in Wildlife Ecology from Clemson University and is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources serving as Project Leader at the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center. Prior to his current position, he worked as a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the South Carolina Heritage Trust Program. Jamie also serves on the North Inlet Estuarine Research Reserve Advisory Board, the Clemson University College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences Alumni Advisory Board and The Winyah Bay Task Force.
Miles is a veteran independent journalist who focuses on science, technology and aerospace. He is the science correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, a producer, director, writer and correspondent for the PBS documentary programs NOVA and FRONTLINE, and an aviation analyst for CNN. He owns MOBIAS Media, Inc., a production company that creates award winning documentary films primarily for PBS as well as several educational and corporate clients.
The Yawkey Foundation is committed to continuing the legacy of Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey by making significant and positive impacts on the quality of life for children, families, and underserved individuals in the places that the Yawkeys called home, Eastern Massachusetts and Georgetown County, South Carolina.
