Conference Agenda

Keynote Speaker: Linwood Pendleton
From the Rappahannock to Rarotonga:
Bridging Science, Policy, and Coastal Community
9:15am – 10:45am

In this keynote, Linwood will share experiences from his career about how he learned to work with coastal leaders across many cultures. He will talk about how “immersion learning” helped him make Santa Monica Bay cleaner for swimmers, protect a big wave surf spot, and led to the recognition of “blue carbon” as a legitimate tool for meeting climate targets. He will move beyond the traditional lecture using collaborative approaches he’s learned in the course of his work. The audience will participate in exercises designed to break down silos, build trust, and forge new connections. More information and full speaker bio.

Virginia Coastal Futures Forum
Virginia’s Evolving Fisheries
11:00am – 12:00pm
Atlantic Ballroom

Warming waters and changing environmental conditions are reshaping Virginia’s seafood landscape. Across the Chesapeake Bay and coastal waters, shifts in species distribution and abundance are creating new opportunities and new challenges for commercial fisheries, recreational fishing, and aquaculture. This panel will examine the data behind these changes, highlighting trends in species such as blue catfish, shrimp, striped bass (rockfish), and shellfish, and explore what they mean for the future of Virginia’s seafood economy, resource management, and coastal communities.

Moderator:

• Shelby White, Marine Business Specialist, VIMS Marine Advisory Program

Panelists:

• Michael Schwartz, Associate Director, Virginia Tech VSAREC
• Michael Bednarski, Chief of Fisheries, VA DWR
• Troy Tuckey, Senior Research Scientist, VIMS
• Ethan Simpson, Chief, Fisheries Management, VMRC

Research Talks
1:00pm – 2:45pm

Improving the Health of our Coastal Ecosystems
Cape Colony A

• Damien Taylor — Investigating the 2023 dieback of SAV in the Gunpowder River, Maryland
• Eric Liu — Spartina alterniflora: Spatial and temporal variability in flowering, seed production, and germination
• Jacob Gallaher — Species Composition Driving Seasonal Patterns of Seagrass in Delmarva Coastal Bays
• Sarah Karpanty — Learning on the fly: management and monitoring of Virginia’s largest seabird colony during in-progress restoration efforts
• Savannah Atchley — Evaluating Marsh Vulnerability at the Virginia Coast Reserve Through UVVR Analysis and Field-Based Ground Truthing
• Leah Sattler — Uprooting Invaders: Managing Invasive Plants
• Mark Brush — L-SNiPS: An Online Decision-Support Tool for Computing Nutrient and Sediment Removals by Living Shorelines

Promoting Sustainable Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Ecosystem Health
Cape Colony B & C

• Ria Salway — Understanding physiological differences between diploid and triploid oyster seed exposed to high temperature and ocean acidification stressors
• Richard Youngk — Changing Oyster Aquaculture
• Emily Ogawa — Microplastic concentrations in zooplankton collected in Virginia waters
• Heidi Mann — An exploration of lagged freshwater insect responses to environmental variables: a case for asynchronous freshwater analysis
• Stephen Via — Evaluating Small Scale Harvest and Recovery of Native Wetland Grasses
• Suresh Subedi — The Role of Native Soil Microbes in Enhancing Coastal Plant Resilience
• Ashley Berniche — The Hutton Effect: Evaluation Long-Term Education and Career Outcomes of High School Fisheries Science Internship Participants

Tools Café
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Mariner A & B

• Cannon Cline – Climate Impacts on Coastal Agriculture: An Interactive Storymap Resource for Building Community Resilience
• Madelyn Shelton – Ocean Health Detectives: Marine Pathology at VIMS
• Mahshid Ahmadian – Fish Trajectory Tool: Reconstructing fish Movement from Incomplete Acoustic Telemetry Data
• Mark Brush – L-SNiPS: An Online Decision-Support Tool for Computing Nutrient and Sediment Removals by Living Shorelines
• Savannah Lynn – CoastWise: Modern Python Tools for SWMM Modeling and Web‑Scale Stress Testing
• Stephanie Letourneau – The Sea Level Rise App: A Tool for Translating Local Knowledge to Actionable Data
• Celia Cackowski – BRIDGE Ocean Education Resource Center: What’s New and What’s Next!
• Loreley Kincel – “Seaing” from a Bird’s-Eye View: Remote Sensing in Coastal Conservation

Panel Discussions
4:00pm – 5:00pm

Panel 1: Is There Room on The R.A.F.T for Me?
Lessons Learned from Partnering with Communities to Advance Resilience
Cape Colony A

The Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool (RAFT) is an innovative “collective impact” approach that leverages the expertise and resources of multidisciplinary partners and stakeholders to assist localities striving to increase their resilience. During this interactive panel discussion, attendees will learn about the background of The RAFT, its approach to supporting coastal community resilience, and how The RAFT has evolved to address fluctuations in public health and economic resilience as a result of flooding and other the environmental impacts.

Moderator:

• Ben McFarlane, Chief Resilience Officer, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission

Panelists:

• Andrew Larkin, J.D., Assistant Director, Old Dominion University Institute for Coastal Adaptation & Resilience
• Elizabeth Andrews, J.D. – Distinguished Law & Policy Fellow
• Wendy Stout, Ph.D. – Director, Virginia Tech Coastal Collaborator Center
• Tammy Rosario – Assistant Director, James City County Community Development

Panel 2: From Research to Impact:
Building Your Broader Impacts Identity Through Education and Outreach
Cape Colony B & C

This interactive panel and roundtable session will introduce participants to the fundamentals of broader impacts while providing practical strategies, examples, and resources for getting started. Attendees will identify education and outreach opportunities that align with their research, learn about strategies for designing engaging activities, and gather resources to begin mapping their own Broader Impacts Identity.

Moderator:

• Lisa Lawrence, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives & Broader Impacts, VIMS Office of Outreach & Engagement

Panelists:

• Sarah Nuss, Director, Office of Outreach & Engagement, William & Mary Batten School & VIMS 
• Bethany Smith, Assoc. Dir., Formal Education, Office of Outreach & Engagement, William & Mary Batten School & VIMS
• Kristen Sharpe, Assoc. Dir., Outreach & Engagement, Office of Outreach & Engagement, William & Mary Batten School & VIMS
• Madison Griffin, Ph.D. Student and VASG Graduate Fellow, William & Mary Batten School & VIMS

Poster Presentations & Reception
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Atlantic Foyer

• Anyia Hardy – The Effect of Coal-Tar Creosote Concentration on Native Soft Rush ( Juncus Effusus)
• Danayja Cranford – Who Eats What? Comparing Predator Diets in the Potomac River
• Danielle Recco – Modeling the Impact of Derelict Crab Traps on the Chesapeake Bay Food Web
• DeAnthony Neal – Comparison of plant communities in stormwater BMPs and adjacent lawns at NSU
• Delaney Owens – Leveraging Cooperative Extension for Climate Resilience: Challenges and Opportunities in Agricultural Communities
• Emily Riffe – Virginia native dune grasses and climate warming
• Eric Liu – Spartina alterniflora: Spatial and temporal variability in flowering, seed production, and germination
• Janae Brown – Assessing Nutrient Levels in Knitting Mill Creek, Norfolk, VA
• Julia Raveneau – Exploring Bacteriophage in Coastal Ecosystem Communities of the Elizabeth River
• Juliana Rosso – Oyster clearance rates as a proxy for pathogen removal
• Kelly Benyo – Piscivory in the Potomac: using floating predation event recorders (PERs) to assess relative predation risks in the tidal freshwater ecosystem
• Kyia Branch – Response to Coal Tar Creosote On Marsh Fimbry
• Maria Guardado – Quantifying Seasonal Variability in SAV Extent and Density in the Pocomoke Sound
• Md Shadman Sakib – Compound Effects of Tropical Cyclone and Nonlinear Vertical Land Motion on Salinity Dynamics in Coastal Wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay
• Meara Tolentino – Capturing Dissolved Organic Carbon Dynamics in Hog Island Bay using Satellite Remote Sensing and Field Measurements
• Miekiah Buster – Effects of Tannins on Betta splendens
• Nick Carpenter – Eyes in the Sky, Tides on the Street: Drone Mapping Frequent Flooding’s Toll on Coastal Roads
• Nivedita Priyadarshini Kamaraj – Integrating multispectral remote sensing and field observations to map nutrients in Chesapeake Bay
• Nyla Mitchell – Identification of Salt-Stress-Regulated Proteins in Plants Using 2D Gel Electrophoresis
• Prasanthi Chidipudi – Flooding and Mental Health in Coastal Virginia: Evidence from Hampton Roads
• Prayer Brown – Effects of Coal Tar Creosote – Contaminated Elizabeth River Sediment on Pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata)
• Rachel Weghorst – Impacts of projected sea level rise and storm intensification on storm surge flooding within coastal communities: A Case Study of Norfolk, Virginia, USA
• Riley Moreau-Long – term trends in a tidal freshwater ecosystem before and after Northern Snakehead (Channa argus) introduction
• Sara Blachman – Strategic Monitoring of Pelagic Primary Production and Respiration in Support of the Chesapeake Bay Aquaculture Industry
• Suleiman Abdulsalam – Whose Science Do You Believe? Contested Credibility in Virginia’s Offshore Wind Debate
• Thomas Brady – Establishing Terrestrial and Topobathyic LiDAR Routines for Coastal Resilience in Hampton Roads
• Xavia Sampson – Increasing knowledge of water quality impacts from runoff in coastal communities
• Ysabel Gutierrez, Jesse Wells – Lessons Learned from Virginia Sea Grant Internships focused on Coastal Stormwater Water Quality and Community Outreach
• Zane Ruzicka – Pre-production Plastic Pellet Best Management Practices
• Tawny Bowis – Tangier Island: Establishing a Baseline for Microplastics Pollution