Alt-Academic Science Career Panel

The Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center with the Climate Solutions Collaborative at NC State invites you to a career panel with scientists who took an alternative path to academia for their careers.

Tuesday, April 23 with refreshments starting at 3PM.

Speakers Include

• Holly Sarvis Weyers – USGS Southeast Regional Director
• Shannon McGovern – Wildfire Resilience Impact Fellow
• Dominic Libera – Hydrologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Jeffrey Herrick – Ecologist with the EPA
• Cindy Simpson –  Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
• Anna Overby – Research Forester with the USDA Forest Service
• See below for full bios!

RSVP Required

This event is in person only at NC State University in Witherspoon 201. This event will have light catering and refreshments, so please only RSVP if you plan to attend. RSVP here.

Learn more about NC State’s Climate Solutions Collaborative here.

Speaker Biographies

Holly Sarvis Weyers is the USGS Regional Director of the Southeast Region which includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Mississippi Basin, and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas-Gulf. Holly’s history with the USGS dates back to 2001 when she joined the Maryland-Delaware-DC Water Science Center as the lead study unit biologist for the National Water-Quality Assessment Potomac-Delmarva Study unit. She went on to become office chief for the USGS Delaware office, associate director for Hydrologic Networks and Information, and director for the North Carolina Water Science Center. She also served as acting deputy associate director for the Office of Human Capital in 2013. Following that, she served as the USGS Emergency Management Coordinator, the lead for the Hurricane Sandy Supplemental, and science liaison for the Southeast Regional Director, with responsibility for coordinating the region’s scientific activities and programs. She has a B.A. in Marine Biology from Auburn University, and an M.S. in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Alabama.

Jeffrey Herrick is an Ecologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Research Triangle Park, NC. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Plant Biology from West Virginia University and conducted his dissertation research on the effects of elevated carbon dioxide on forests. Since joining the EPA, Herrick has primarily worked on scientific support and policy-making for the ecological aspects of the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). His work focuses on the effect of air pollutants on vegetation and ecosystems, with an emphasis on direct effects of gaseous pollutants such as ozone, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Herrick’s work also includes characterizing the effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition and acidifying deposition and climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. He is an EPA resource for the translation of science into informed policy-making.

Dominic Libera grew up in Elon, NC with a family that enjoyed being outdoors, backpacking, fishing, and rock climbing.  As an avid backpacker in my youth, he grew passionate about preserving and caring for the environment and its’ natural water systems. He pursued a B.S. in Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University, awarded in 2011, and a masters (’13) and PhD (’18). He participated in competitive research programs like the SE CASC Global Change Research Fellowship and teaching programs like the Preparing the Professoriate Program.  He held a postdoc in Florida researching groundwater dominated systems and the food-energy-water nexus to improve the water supply infrastructures and ultimately human health. In 2022, he joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service to work as a Hydrologist within the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Anna Overby is a Research Forester in Forest Economics and Policy at the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station in RTP, NC. Anna received a PhD from Clemson University (2023) in the interdisciplinary Planning, Design and the Built Environment Program. Her research there explored various aspects related to the impacts of conservation easements and growth management controls on urban sprawl prevention in the US. Before that, Anna received her BS in Environmental and Natural Resources from Clemson (2008) and MS in Forestry from North Carolina State University (2011). Professionally, Anna previously worked for the North Carolina Forest Service as the coordinator of the Longleaf Program, which included outreach with family forest landowners and the development of decision-support tools for longleaf pine ecosystem restoration.

Cindy Simpson has been the Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator in the Habitat Conservation Division of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission since 2010. In addition to her experience at the Commission, she also has 20+ years experience working for engineering consulting firms as a field biologist where she conducted environmental assessments, developed Clean Water Act Section 404 and 401 permits for roadway, commercial, and industrial developments, and was coordinator for a national hazardous waste operations program. She has been certified as a Professional Wetland Scientist (Society of Wetland Scientists) and has completed OSHA’s Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response 40-Hour Training with Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA) training.  Cindy graduated from NC State University in 2000 with a B.S. in Natural Resources and in 2010 with a M.R. in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences.

Shannon McGovern is currently serving as the Wildfire Resilience Impact Fellow in the Department of the Interior, Office of Wildland Fire. She is also a PhD Candidate at NC State University in the School of Public and International Affairs, where she earned her Master of Public Administration in 2021. She is a former Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center Global Change Research Fellow (2022). Shannon is a natural hazards researcher who focuses on translating research to operations through federal policy. Through her current fellowship, she supports the work of the Congressional Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. The Commission was given 12 months to develop two reports containing 167 federal policy recommendations for the future of wildland fire in the United States. The Commission’s work is the most sweeping review of our national wildland fire system to date, and has laid the foundation for decades of interagency and intergovernmental collaboration. Shannon is on track to graduate from NCSU in December 2024, and will continue her work with the Department of the Interior.