Dr. Dani Weissman

Faculty research assistant

Dani Weissman is working as a Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program Fellow in the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service's Office of Habitat Conservation and has a joint appointment as a Research Associate in Dr. Kate Tully’s Agroecology Lab. An alumnus of Dr. Tully’s lab, she holds a PhD in Agroecology from the University of Maryland. She also holds a BA in Environmental Earth Science with a focus in Geology from Johns Hopkins University. The primary goal of her work is to help landowners implement adaptive and resilient land management practices in coastal areas threatened by sea level rise. Over the past five years, she has worked to create native salt marsh habitat on agricultural lands that can no longer be farmed conventionally due to frequent tidal flooding and persistent saltwater intrusion. Dani uses her understanding of biogeochemical cycling to quantify the magnitude of nutrient pollution reductions downstream of salt marshes.

Dani has a holistic passion for expanding and improving protected areas, both on land and in water. She promotes this mission by engaging herself and others in citizen science projects. Additionally, she volunteers with Maryland and D.C.-based environmental groups to improve water quality in her local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. Dani spends a lot of time birdwatching and creating checklists for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology eBird project as well as hiking and uploading her outdoor observations to the online platform iNaturalist. She also enjoys backpacking, knitting, playing the violin, and photography.