Rachel Gittman
Current Job: Associate Professor, East Carolina University
Current Project: Our lab group is currently assessing how shoreline stabilization through the installation of low-crested breakwaters affects adjacent nearshore seagrass meadows in coastal North Carolina. We are also working with collaborators to better understand how changes in the coastal environment can influence seagrass species distribution and extent in North Carolina.
State(s) working in: North Carolina
Where are you from: Virginia
What do you think is the main reason we should protect SAV?
SAV supports multiple ecosystem functions, including habitat for coastal fauna and improving sediment retention and local water quality.
How do you feel your research will make a difference in the SAV community?
My hope is that our research will improve our understanding of how human actions, such as shoreline stabilization, can affect seagrass. These results could influence policy and management in coastal regions with SAV.
What is one of your best memories working with SAV?
I really enjoy encountering (but not stepping on) sting rays while working in SAV.
What keeps you motivated to keep caring about the future of SAV?
Getting into the field and seeing the diversity and abundance of organisms using SAV as habitat.
More about Rachel’s story
Dr. Gittman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology and Coastal Studies Institute at East Carolina University. Her research focal areas include marine community ecology, restoration ecology, coastal management and policy, and sustainability science. She received her doctorate in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014 and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Northeastern University from 2015-2017. Before attending graduate school, Dr. Gittman was an environmental consultant in Washington D.C. for three years after graduating from the University of Virginia in 2006 with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences with High Distinction. Dr. Gittman is broadly interested in understanding how humans modify the coastal environment and how best to manage or mitigate the ecological consequences of those modifications to sustain ecosystem structure, functions, and services. She is particularly excited about identifying novel approaches for conserving and restoring coastal habitats and supported services in the context of developed coastal areas (e.g. evaluating designs and implementation of living shorelines, testing the methods and criteria for successful ecosystem restoration).
