Current ICS Ph.D. Students

2025 Cohort

Student Information:

• • Kristen Bigelow
    • bigelowk25@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- utilizing GIS to monitor coastal habitat integrity, assess human impacts on coastal-dwelling mammals, and explore the intersection of tourism and environmental justice
  • Graeme Clark

    • clarkg25@students.ecu.edu

  • Emmanuel Maldonado
    • maldonadogonzalee25@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- intersections of environmental justice, coastal displacement, small-scale fisheries, and food systems in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, with a focus on how community knowledge, governance, and socio-ecological change shape access to marine resources and the resilience of coastal communities
  • Bairon Mugeni
    • mugenib25@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- understanding and modeling the impact of land use activities on aquatic ecosystem health and water quality, with a goal of supporting sustainable aquaculture, conservation, and environmental policy in the African Great Lakes region
  • Daniel Ocloo

    • oclood25@students.ecu.edu

  • Charles Veith
    • veithc23@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Using Field, Lab, and Modeling Studies to Determine the Impact Anthropogenic Climate Change has on Sport Fish Biology, Ecology, and Fisheries
  • Lindsay Wentzel

    • wentzell23@ecu.edu

2024 Cohort

Student Information:

• • Kachapond Chettanawanit
    • chettanawanitk24@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Coastal dynamic, interaction between physical and biogeochemical processes, and water quality using modeling and data analysis
  • Abdulahi Opejin
    • opejina22@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Using Geospatial Analytics and ML models to understand surface water dynamics, water quality, air quality, environmental justice, environmental health, and environmental (air & water) quality sensors.
  • Sarah Titta
    • tittas24@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Utilizing GIS to monitor marine habitat quality, analyzing social aspects of environmental protection, identifying potential environmental risks associated with coastal and maritime environments

2023 Cohort

Student Information:

• • Nelson Adeniji
    • adenijin21@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Hazard and Disaster Risk Reduction, Community-based research, Geospatial Sciences
  • Daystar Babanawo
    • babanawod23@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Coastal hazards, resilience, and engineering
  • Daniel Reed
    • reedda21@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Chemistry, PFA contamination, education
  • Madeline Roth
    • rothm16@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Maritime heritage, cultural resource management
  • Sarah Radel
    • radels23@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Data Science, Geospatial Science, Climate Change: Adaption, Mitigation, and Resiliency
  • Rebecca Reibel
    • reibelr23@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Geology, coastal morphology, sea level rise and urbanization
  • Zackary Shepard
    • shepardz20@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Conservation Psychology & Environmental Anthropology. More specifically what factors influence decision-making among fishers and in coastal and marine spaces
  • Alexandra Stevenson
    • stevensona17@students.ecu.edu
    • Environmental Anthropology; Climate Change; Nature-based Solutions 

2022 Cohort

Student Information:

• • Jillian Eller
    • ellerj22@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Marine renewable energy, marine spatial planning, and local knowledge that can influence the implementation of marine energy technologies. 
  • Mary-Margaret McKinney
    • mckinneymar22@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Salt marsh restoration, ecology, engineering
  • Mariela Victoria Garcia Vega
    • garciavegam22@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Influence of institutional arrangements and their implementation on the effects of coastal squeeze on mangroves
  • Kelly White-Singleton
    • whitesingletonk03@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Sustainable tourism and recreation, environmental planning, conservation, rural economic development, community engagement/community-based research
  • Kimiya Yousefi
    • yousefik22@students.ecu.edu

2021 Cohort

Student Information:

• • Kinsey Blumenthal
    • blumenthalk21@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Mosquito biodiversity and dynamics of mangrove restoration: implications for human and wildlife infectious disease
  • Jacquelyn Moore Flanagan
    • moorejac14@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Comprehensive Assessment of Wave Energy Potential along the Northern Outer Banks, NC: Integrating ICESat- 2 Satellite Data and CDIP Buoys for Cost-Benefit Analysis 
  • Megan Elizabeth Geesin
    • geesinm21@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Assessing the ecological and societal benefits and tradeoffs of oyster breakwaters
  • Allyson Genevieve Ropp
    • roppal14@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- An Interdisciplinary Assessment of Wooden Shipwreck Stability in a Shallow-Water Tidal-Fresh Ecosystem
  • Georgette Louise Tso
    • tsog21@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Wave transformations over intertidal reefs
  • Rachel Marie Wheatley
    • wheatleyr18@students.ecu.edu
    • Research Interests- Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction; climate effects from asteroid impact, scientific method

2020 Cohort

Student Information:

• • Jaclyn Best
    • bestj20@students.ecu.edu
  • Maria Gomez
    • gomezsaldarriagam14@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- From Ecosystem Services to Public Health: A Comprehensive Analysis of Mapping, Tracking, and Quantifying Health-Related Services
  • Shalimar Moreno
    • morenosh20@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Improving the Coastal Carbon Cycle with Space-Based Observations of Reef Complexity
  • Yicheng Xu
    • xuy20@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Exploring the influence of environmental, socioeconomic and demographic factors on high tide flood risks to coastal communities and the development of associated risk management strategies

2019 Cohort

Student Information:

• • Genevieve Guerry
    • guerryg19@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Human Response To Environmental Degradation: Case Study Of Chemical Contamination In Wilmington, NC
  • Kyra Hagge
    • haggek19@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- The future of wastewater treatment in Coastal Areas: Linking socio-economic and natural systems using social capital and Agent-based modeling
  • Elnaz Pezeshski
    • pezeshkie19@students.ecu.edu
    • Dissertation- Coastal watershed climate adaptation: increasing coastal watershed resilience to storm-induced soil salinization using a novel concept for capillary valves