LAKE SUPERIOR - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Monitoring Technician / University of Minnesota Duluth
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Administration for the Natural Resources Institute
- NRI Assistant Director of Administration
Brian is the Assistant Director of Administration for the Natural Resources Institute. Brian provides fiscal, grant management and human resources support, facilitating the important programs and services that the talented professionals of the NRI provide to the people, lands and waters of this great state. Before joining the Natural Resources Institute in 2017, he had previous careers in the U.S. Marine Corps and manufacturing operations. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor of science in mathematics and a master of business administration from UW-Madison.
Deanna served as Interim Manager from April to November 2020 and as the Education Coordinator in the nine years following the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve's 2010 designation. During that time, she initiated the impactful Rivers2Lake Education Program, which has provided extended mentoring in place-based and outdoor education for over eighty teachers in partnership with regional schools, the Great Lakes Aquarium, Fond du Lac Resource Management and many others. In 2017, she led the development of the Lake Superior Estuarium exhibit hall and the Confluence Room meeting space on Barker's Island in Superior. She holds a bachelor of science in Natural Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a master of education from the University of Minnesota Duluth and has provided leadership in conservation, natural resource management and environmental education since 1998. Deanna was the winner of the 2014 Lake Superior Stewardship award for the development of the Rivers2Lake program and has earned nearly $1.7 million in grant funding to support the community and the Reserve. She deeply values the vast importance of the St. Louis River Estuary at the Great Lakes headwaters and spends her free time paddling and exploring these remarkable waterways.
Dr. Kaitlin (Kait) Reinl is a limnologist with a broad focus on how the synergistic effects of climate and watershed influence impact inland water quality. Her previous work has focused on understanding freshwater systems using monitoring, experimental, and computer modeling approaches. Kait received her B.S. in Environmental Engineering and M.S. in Applied Ecology from Michigan Technological University. Her master's research focused on using climate model data to model future temperature conditions in small lakes in Michigan. Kait went on to complete her PhD at the University of Minnesota - Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory in 2021. She worked on many projects including understanding physical drivers of the deep chlorophyll layer of Lake Superior, identifying sources and drivers of cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Superior, and developing a life cycle model to predict blooms in Lake Superior. She was also heavily involved in the coordination of Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) efforts and algal bloom response in the western arm in Lake Superior. Most recently she was a Postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Limnology where she worked on developing water quality models for all lakes in the US, watershed modeling for nutrients in Lake Superior, as well as other projects. Some of her hobbies include XC skiing, reading, fishing, and hiking.
As the Monitoring Coordinator, Hannah Ramage facilitates the Reserve's mission to monitor and quantify short-term variability and long-term changes in water quality, meteorology and biological systems within the Reserve. Hannah grew up in Traverse City, Michigan. She received her bachelor's degree in biology from DePauw University in 2011, and her Master of Science in integrated biosciences from University of Minnesota Duluth in 2017. She worked as an Aquatic Ecologist for the Aquatic Restoration and Research Institute conducting research on stream stormwater contaminates and juvenile salmon habitat-associations in Talkeetna, Alaska. Her current research includes investigating nutrient and water quality dynamics that influence phytoplankton communities in the St. Louis River Estuary. In her spare time, Hannah enjoys hiking, canoeing, and gardening.
Job Titles:
- Financial Specialist Senior
Job Titles:
- Coastal Training Program Coordinator
As the Coastal Training Program (CTP) Coordinator, Karina helps to advance the Reserve's outreach goals by developing training events and technical assistance that help decision makers take informed and inspired actions to protect the local coastal system. Karina is originally from Fairbanks, Alaska and lived in the western United States for several years before landing in the Midwest. She received a bachelor's degree in environmental studies and sociology from Whitman College in 2009, and in 2016 completed her master's degree in urban and regional planning at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School. She has a professional background in land use planning and program coordination. Karina is an avid hiker, gardener, cross-country skier and (during cold winter months) sewing project enthusiast.
As the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve's stewardship coordinator, Kirsten works to protect, restore, and connect people to the lands and waters included within the Reserve. She began exploring aquatic ecosystems as a child, looking for tadpoles in the bog behind her home in northern Wisconsin and exploring the streams and lakes of the Upper Peninsula on camping trips with her family. Kirsten received a bachelor's in Biology and a certificate in Folklore from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master's in Water Resources Science from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her professional experience includes working as a limnologist in Wisconsin, Ecuador and Alaska and, most recently, she served as a Knauss Fellow working in environmental policy in Washington D.C.
Luciana's personal and professional life revolves around fostering connections among people, ideas, and place. She has demonstrated experience and leadership in environmental education (EE), recently as Youth and Family Programs Director at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center and Field Education Faculty at Teton Science Schools. At the national scale, Luciana trains environmental educators on practices for authentic community engagement as part of the ee360 team at Antioch University New England. She wrote a module for the North American Association of Environmental Education with resources to continue momentum toward social and environmental justice within the field. Luciana earned a Master of Science in environmental studies with an EE concentration at Antioch University New England and a Bachelor of Arts in biology and secondary education at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Among a group, Luciana values converging on a shared purpose and noticing or creating opportunities for joy. Finding a bird she associates with wilderness under a hedge in a city stands among the magical nature moments in her most recent memory, and she's excited for more near the St. Louis River Estuary.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Division of Extension Natural Resources Institute
- NRI Extension Director
Tricia is the Director of the Division of Extension Natural Resources Institute. Tricia also worked as the Implementation Manager for the nEXT Generation project with Extension. Prior to joining Extension, Tricia served in several roles at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, including as the Section Chief for the Forest Sciences section and as a senior research scientist, leading projects that informed management, outreach and policy decisions around areas such as private lands management and the effectiveness of partnership networks. Tricia also spent five years as a postdoctoral researcher with Iowa State University and UW-Madison, integrating research, teaching and outreach to address issues such as bioenergy production, community readiness to address urban tree pests, farmer perspectives on nutrient management practices, and the business networks of forest industry. She holds a doctor of philosophy in forestry and master of science in ecology and evolutionary biology from Iowa State University, and a bachelor's degree from UW-Madison.