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Team

The program staff is responsible for day-to-day implementation of the program, coordinating with NOAA and the NERR System, and leveraging the expertise of an extended team.

Jen Read

Jen Read

Program Director

Jen Read, who directs the U-M Water Center, implemented the Integrated Assessment program, including introducing the idea to the research community, while working for Michigan Sea Grant. Jen is also experienced leading interdisciplinary teams informed by multi-sector advisory groups to address challenging water-related issues. Jen serves as the Science Collaborative's principal investigator, provides overall program leadership, and manages the day-to-day activities of the Science Collaborative program.

Maeghan Brass

Maeghan Brass

Collaborative Research Manager

Maeghan Brass is highly experienced engaging multi-disciplinary, multi-sector teams to develop and implement user-driven projects. She helps lead the day-to-day administration of the program, coordinates the Science Collaborative's regular request for proposal processes, and serves as a program officer, working closely with research and catalyst project teams. She also supports ongoing project and program learning and contributes to the development of collaborative science workshops and resources.

Nick Soberal

Nick Soberal

Program Officer, Communications Specialist

Nick Soberal is a science communications specialist and serves as a program officer for knowledge exchange and capacity building projects. In addition to supporting program management activities, Nick leads the development of science communications products that synthesize and share stories across projects, maintains the project catalog and resource library, and produces the program’s Collaborative Science for Estuaries webinars and videos.

woman in a field with California poppies behind her

Arianna Stokes

Program Officer, Collaboration Specialist

Arianna Stokes supports opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, program communication, and data archival. Her work also helps advance the development of collaborative science resources and program learning about meaningful engagement with project participants and partners and the impacts of collaborative science.

Doug George

Douglas George

NOAA Program Manager

Doug George is a trained geological oceanographer and the program manager for the NERRS Science Collaborative. He has worked throughout the West Coast as a federal scientist, state resource manager, and environmental consultant with projects ranging from estuary restoration and living shorelines to regional sediment management and climate change adaptation.

Vincent wearing a black vaquero (cowboy) hat and a silver fox fur. He has his hand in a fist shape, a habit picked up from his time boxing as a youth.

Vincent Salgado

Research Associate

Vincent Salgado attended the University of Michigan for both his undergraduate and graduate degree. For the latter, he specialized in Environmental Justice, Behavior, Education & Communication, and, to paraphrase, Ecosystem Studies & Stewardship. For his capstone project, Vincent outlined an overview of Traditional Knowledge systems as well as elaborated on how Western Science can work with them in a good way. After graduation, he has been aiding to write a document to help ground Tribal-State collaboration efforts in restoring Manoomin, a resource to aid in NERRS researchers in forming good relationships with Tribal partners and communities, and a federal plan in aiding the preservation and revitalization of Indigenous cultures in the face of climate change.