Biennial Okefenokee Science Symposium

Dr. James B. Deemy is an Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences and has been Environmental Science Program Lead at the College of Coastal Georgia. At Coastal Georgia, he teaches a range of courses from earth systems to coastal research methods. He also leads the Wetland Science Certificate program, which includes teaching a variety of wetlands courses.

Dr. Kimberly Andrews has a faculty appointment as the coastal ecology specialist and is located at the Brunswick office, where she oversees the Coastal Ecology Lab. She officially joined Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant in 2020, but has been working on the Georgia coast since 2011. Her research and conservation efforts involve conducting field research, primarily on reptiles and habitats altered by development, pollution, and climate change.

Mark Hoog joined the UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant Coastal Ecology Lab in 2020, where he helps manage the Okefenokee alligator project and conducts research on reducing human-wildlife conflict in urban and residential areas. He is currently working on his Ph.D. at Georgia Southern University, focusing on alligator behavior, genetics, and epigenetics.

Michael Lusk is a certified wildlife biologist and a 33-year veteran of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He has managed the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge for 12 years.

Dr. Todd Rasmussen is a retired UGA professor of hydrology and water resources who has been active in Georgia since his arrival from the University of Arizona in 1992. His research focuses on groundwater flow and transport and its interactions with surface water. An active caver since the 1960s, his underground explorations provide him and his students the opportunity to study groundwater firsthand.