Kenney Gives Keynote Address at Patuxent River Conference

This week, ESSIC/CICS Associate Research Professor Melissa Kenney gave a keynote address at the Patuxent River Conference, a gathering of scientists, environmental educators, and natural resource managers to discuss the health and future of the Patuxent River.  This year’s theme for the conference was “Climate Change & the Patuxent River: Local Implications of Global Issues”.

In the address, Kenney spoke about the environmental management challenges that come with parks and natural areas near urban centers.

“The reason I became an environmental decision scientist is because science alone is not enough to manage systems. It is crucial to understand and improve the ways that uncertain science, multiple (often competing) stakeholder values, and environmental and policy constraints inform complex decisions,” said Kenney.

In addition to her role as an Associate Research Professor with ESSIC / CICS-MD, Kenney is an affiliate at the Department of Geographical Sciences.  Her research focuses on participatory processes and tools to advance environmental decision support science by integrating scientific knowledge and societal values into decision-making under uncertainty.

To learn more about the conference, click here to see the conference website.

To learn more about Kenney’s work, see her website.