Biography
Maria is a marine ecologist with research interests in marine habitat restoration and rehabilitation and urban ecology. Her current research investigates the spatial dependencies of facilitative interactions among coastal habitats, with a focus on understanding how these interactions can be used to design and scale up coastal restoration. Maria is a CERC Research Fellow with CSIRO, based in Brisbane, Australia.
Prior to joining CSIRO, Maria worked as a Project Manager & Postdoctoral researcher with the Living Seawalls project at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science where she researched eco-engineering solutions and helped build a global program for restoring biodiversity on modified shorelines. Her previous research experience also includes understanding recruitment patterns and habitat provisioning of restored and naturally occurring intertidal and subtidal oyster reefs along the southeast and Gulf coasts of the United States and the east coast of Australia.
Academic Qualifications
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2018
PhD in Biological Sciences (Marine Ecology)
Macquarie University -
2014
MS in Biological Sciences (Marine Ecology)
Louisiana State University -
2010
BS in Biology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Current Roles
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Research Scientist
Coastal marine ecosystem restoration
Professional Experiences
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2022-2026
Research Fellow
CSIRO -
2018-2022
Project Manager & Postdoctoral Research Associate
Living Seawalls, Sydney Institute of Marine Science -
2016-2017
Research Assistant
World Harbour Project, Sydney Institute of Marine Science
ORCID 0000-0002-3885-9908