Dr. Katie Dafforn Joins Stone Living Lab as Co-Director

The Stone Living Lab is excited to announce the hiring of Dr. Katie Dafforn as Co-Director of the Lab and as the Distinguished Professor of Coastal Resilience at the School for the Environment at UMass Boston.

Dr. Dafforn, an Environmental Scientist, is an international leader in coastal ecology, working towards the remediation and restoration of coastal habitats worldwide. She is a leader in global research to understand the increasing footprint of coastal and offshore built structures that are degrading marine habitats, while working on ways to reverse the problem.

Dr. Dafforn co-founded the award-winning Living Seawalls project that creates habitat on coastal defense structures. Thousands of habitat panels using her designs have been installed on seawalls and other built structures around the world, and they were recently installed here in Boston Harbor with the Lab as well. The panels Katie and her team developed mimic the habitat features of natural shorelines and encourage native habitat-forming species to counter the adverse effects of built structures. She has worked extensively with partners from local, state and federal government as well as private industry, not-for-profit organizations, and community groups.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Dafforn has produced more than 100 peer-reviewed publications; secured more than $15 million in total grant funding; and mentored more than 40 graduate students. She received the inaugural ‘Emerging Leader in Marine Science’ award from the Australian Marine Science Association and her project Living Seawalls has received national and international recognition including nomination for the Earthshot Prize in 2021.

In her new role at the Lab, Katie will lead the research and monitoring activities, long-term planning, and fundraising for the Lab, while her fellow Co-Director Joe Christo will continue to lead day-to-day operations, education and engagement, communications, implementation, and partnership activities.

Katie received her Bachelor of Science (Hons and University Medal) in Marine Biology and Spatial Information Systems and her PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She joins the Lab and UMass Boston from her previous role as Associate Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University.