New study highlights the need to diversify the coastal and estuarine scientific community

Princeton Hydro Natural Resource Management Project Manager Johnny Quispe worked with a group of experts to author a peer-reviewed study, titled “A Socio-ecological Imperative for Broadening Participation in Coastal and Estuarine Research and Management.” This compelling and important study was recently published as an open-source article in Estuaries and Coasts, the journal of the Coastal Estuarine Research Federation.

In the article, the authors put the spotlight on the lack of diversity in scientific disciplines, and describe the urgency of building a diverse and inclusive workforce in coastal and estuarine science specifically. The study provides overview of this inequity and identifies how a scientific society can and must catalyze representational, structural, and interactional diversity to achieve greater inclusion. The study states:

“Needed changes go beyond representational diversity and require an intentional commitment to build capacity through inclusivity and community engagement by supporting anti-racist policies and actions… Our vision couples the importance of workforce representation for the communities we serve with an effort to use inclusion and diversity initiatives as a mechanism for social justice and to address institutionalized racism, which is deeply rooted in the geosciences… Professional societies, as institutional actors, can play a key role in dismantling racism and broadening participation in science… We contend that scientific societies can be natural agents of positive change in this regard and that they have an obligation to do so… Such work is not only long overdue and essential to estuarine and coastal science and management, but it is also a moral imperative.”

Also illustrated in the study is the disparity between the racial and ethnic composition of coastal and shoreline areas and the racial and ethnic characteristics of ocean science graduates. Nearly across the board, average populations of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans are higher (sometimes substantially) in U.S. coastal and shoreline areas than non-coastal and non-shoreline areas. Yet, STEM degree programs and occupations in the U.S. and globally continue to significantly lack demographic diversity. Furthermore, as the study states:

“Without a marked increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of students obtaining geoscience degrees, all science fields including coastal sciences risk losing the capacity to do the best science and to design the best policy. By championing equitable representation of underrepresented groups in geosciences, coastal communities will better innovate in the face of a changing climate and thus a changing coastal system.”

Estuaries and Coasts published the study as an open-source article, which means it’s available to read in-full for anyone interested in taking a deeper dive into this important subject matter. Click here to read the full article.

The following individuals worked together to author the study:

• J. Quispe, Princeton Hydro and Rutgers University Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution
• L.A. Harris, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
• T. Grayson, US Environmental Protection Agency
• H.A. Neckles, US Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center
• C.T. Emrich, School of Public Administration, National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, University of Central Florida
• K.A. Lewis, Department of Biology, National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, University of Central Florida
• K.W. Grimes, Center for Marine & Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands
• S. Williamson, National Association of Counties
• C. Garza, School of Natural Sciences, California State University, Monterey Bay
• C.R. Whitcraft, Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach
• J. Beseres Pollack, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
• D.M. Talley, Environmental and Ocean Sciences, University of San Diego
• B. Fertig, Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship
• C.M. Palinkas, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
• S. Park, Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation
• J.M.P. Vaudrey, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut
• A.M. Fitzgerald, Biology Department, New Jersey City University

Johnny Quispe, Princeton Hydro’s Natural Resource Management Project Manager, is a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University’s Graduate Program of Ecology and Evolution completing his dissertation on the effects of sea level rise on coastal ecosystems and communities. At Princeton Hydro, Johnny integrates social, economic, engineering, and natural systems into his projects to make coastal communities more resilient to natural disasters and climate change. 

To learn more about Johnny Quispe, go here. And, for more information about Princeton Hydro’s Natural Resource Management services, click here.

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