Our Team
Current Team Members
MATTHEW BURTNER
Co-Director
Matthew Burtner is an Alaskan-born composer, sound artist and eco-acoustician whose music and research explores embodiment, ecology, polytemporality and noise.
KAREN MCGLATHERY
Co-Director
Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences; Director, Environmental Resilience Institute Karen is Lead Investigator of the Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) Long Term Ecological Research Program at UVA’s coastal research lab on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
WILLIS JENKINS
Co-Director
Willis Jenkins is Convener of Environmental Humanities at UVA and Professor of Religious Studies.
BETH ROACH
Public Fellow
Beth Roach is a storyteller, climate action organizer, and surfer who is enrolled in the Nottoway Indian Tribe of VA and serves on Tribal Council. Her background is rooted in work with Virginia State Parks and the James River Watershed, and she serves as vice-chair on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice.
PETER BERG
Core Team
Peter Berg is a Research Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences. His research focuses on metabolism and oxygen dynamics of underwater ecosystems.
ADRIENNE GHALY
Core Team
Adrienne Ghaly is a Research Specialist in Environmental Humanities at UVA working on labs in water futures, climate equity and ethics, and planetary pressures on sacred sites.
CORA JOHNSTON
Core Team
Cora Johnston is site director of the Coastal Research Center. Her background is in the community ecology of changing coastal systems and she directs the VCR-LTER’s outreach and education programs and serves as liaison to the Eastern Shore community.
MATT REIDENBACH
Core Team
My primary area of research is environmental fluid dynamics, with an emphasis on fluid-biological interactions in coastal environments. Project: Coastal Soundscapes and Oyster Reef Health.
CHARLOTTE ROGERS
Core Team
Charlotte Rogers is Associate Professor of Spanish in the department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Her research examines representations of the tropics in contemporary Latin American literature and culture, often with an ecocritical focus. Project: The Power of the Arts in the Hurricane Zone.
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KATHLEEN KING
Research Assistant
Kathleen is a graduate student in Critical and Comparative Studies in Music at the University of Virginia and a recipient of the Indigenous Studies Fellowship. Kathleen's work focuses on sound ecology, Indigenous land rights, and overlapping ideas of sound and conservation in both object and nature preservation.
SIAVASH MOHEBBI
Research Assistant
Siavesh is a graduate student in Critical and Comparative Studies in Music at the University of Virginia, currently assisting on the project Soundscapes of Restoration.
AJAY LIMAYE
Researcher
Ajay is Assistant Professor and head of the Landscape Evolution Group in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. He investigates how rivers shape landscapes from the ocean floor to mountain canyons and the surfaces of other planets. In collaboration with experts in music composition and science education his project will sonify the science of meandering rivers into music.
Former Fellows & Researchers
BECKY BROWN
Former Research Assistant
Becky Brown is a composer, harpist, artist, and graduate student in Composition and Computer Technologies at the University of Virginia. Project: Listening to the Virginia Barrier Islands.
DANIEL FISHKIN
Former Research Assistant
Daniel Fishkin is a composer, sound artist, instrument builder and PhD Candidate in Composition and Computer Music at the University of Virginia.
JONATHAN CANNON
Former Fellow
Jonathan Cannon is the Blaine T. Phillips Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he also serves as director of the law school’s environmental and land use law program.
ANDREW KAHRL
Former Fellow
Associate Professor of History and African American Studies Area of research: coastal land use, real estate development, and conservation in the 20th century US Project: “(Don’t) Drain the Swamp: Resort Development, Wetlands Protection, and the Politics of Growth on the Delmarva Peninsula”
CHRISTOPHER LUNA-MEGA
Former Fellow
Christopher Luna-Mega is a composer and improviser. Born in the United States and raised in Mexico City, he studied Composition at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México –UNAM (B.M.) and Mills College (M.A.), as well as Film/Communication Theory at the Universidad Iberoamericana –UIA, Mexico City (B.A.).
ELI STINE
Former Fellow
Eli Stine is a composer, programmer, and educator. Stine is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Oberlin Conservatory. Project: Coastal Soundscapes and Oyster Reef Health
MARTIN VOLARIC
Former Fellow
My PhD research focuses on the oxygen metabolism and hydrodynamics of intertidal ecosystems on the Virginia coast, particularly oyster reefs. Project: Coastal Soundscapes and Oyster Reef Health