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New Updates to SE CASC Staff

October 3, 2023

Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC) has some exciting new updates to their staff. Cari Furiness, previously SE CASC Program Manager, will serve as the Assistant Consortium Director. Michelle Jewell, previously Chief Science Communicator for the Department of Applied Ecology at NC State University, will serve as the Communications & Engagement Manager.

Cari Furiness, Assistant Consortium Director

It is our pleasure to share that Cari Furiness, long-time SE CASC employee, has been named the Assistant Consortium Director. In this role, Cari connects climate and land use science to relevant stakeholders. She facilitates research on natural and cultural resources and communicates important findings for partners to use when developing climate-smart management and adaptation decisions. 

With a background in biology and forest ecology, Cari has worked on a broad range of research projects while at NCSU, focusing on issues, such as air pollution and environmental sustainability, and has played a long-term role coordinating precipitation monitoring sites in NC as part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program National Trends Network. With such a robust background, Cari serves as a valuable thought partner to the SE CASC.

Cari’s continued dedication to the SE CASC has allowed the center to expand across the Southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean, with the newest cooperative agreement including consortium partners in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Through discussions of SE CASC funded projects and communications with principal investigators, Cari helps fulfill the SE CASC mission of delivering science to help fish, wildlife, water, land, and people adapt to a changing climate. In addition, Cari has also led many successful events to share science, engage partners, and promote research across the Southeast. Most recently, she led the 2022 Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Symposium in Gulf Shores, AL, to connect researchers and decision makers working in climate adaptation. Similarly, Cari is leading skills building in the SE CASC 2023-24 Global Change Research Fellows, offering valuable climate science, decision analysis, and tribal engagement learning opportunities to our newest cohort.

We are all so grateful for Cari and her efforts to keep the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center running as a successful science-producing and community-engaging entity for climate adaptation efforts across the Southeast US.

Michelle Jewell, Communications & Engagement Manager

SE CASC is also proud to announce that the new Communications and Engagement position within the center will be filled by long-time collaborator Michelle Jewell. She is a familiar face within the SE CASC Consortium and National CASC (NCASC), having hosted World Cafes on Science Communication at the last two SE CASC Symposia and currently working with NCASC to create communications strategies that synthesize and disseminate the broader works and mission of the CASC network. 

Michelle has worked in multi-faceted, interdisciplinary roles within academic, non-profit, and tourism centers. She has a background in zoology and regularly works with popular media science outlets like National Geographic and Discovery Channel. Her main zoology-related research interests are predator-prey systems and their relationships with climate change, trophic cascades, and migration channels, whereas her communication-related research interests are understanding how the feedback loops of algorithms further entrench or expand our beliefs about our roles in the “natural” world. Michelle is also the president of the Science Communicators of North Carolina – the second largest professional society for science communicators in the US. 

Michelle will oversee SE CASC communications efforts, providing increased capacity to promote SE CASC science results as well as to enhance communication and engagement among project teams and with end-users of science products. 

Ryan Boyles, Chief Scientist for CASC Climate Adaptation Technical Support

Lastly, SE CASC Deputy Director Ryan Boyles has recently started an outstanding, yearlong, detail opportunity with CASC Headquarters focusing on Climate Adaptation Technical Support. Information about a new acting Deputy Director coming soon.