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The 2022 North Carolina Coastal Conference

Our Coast, Our Future

Teachers, scientists, community experts, policymakers, business leaders, and many others came to Raleigh in early November for this year’s Coastal Conference. Together, they discussed urgent and emerging issues affecting our coasts, forged new ties, and literally devoured new research for lunch.

This two-day hybrid event was available in person and online, and we recorded much of it. Here, you can watch videos of many of the sessions, or you can view individual presentations.

A look at the full array of programming, session descriptions, guest speaker bios, and abstracts is available in the conference program.

The speakers were professional and brought great content.

– Attendee

Day 1

The first day of the 2022 North Carolina Coastal Conference began with a welcome from Susan White, the executive director of North Carolina Sea Grant. Guest speakers Elizabeth S. Biser, secretary of North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, and Jonathan Pennock, director of the National Sea Grant College Program, also offered opening day remarks, before Elizabeth Frankenberg (above), director of the Carolina Center for Population Aging and Health, gave the plenary address. The concurrent sessions followed. 

Planning for a Resilient Future
Chris Ellis, NOAA, moderator

featuring:

Developing Community Viability
Scott Baker, North Carolina Sea Grant, moderator

featuring:

Innovations in Wastewater Treatment
Jane Harrison, North Carolina Sea Grant, moderator

featuring:

“Networking was excellent due to the overall structure and format of the conference.”

– Attendee

Bridging the Gap: Prioritizing Equity
Christy Perrin, North Carolina Sea Grant, moderator

featuring:

Research Applications at the Intersection of Ecosystem and Community Resilience
Cayla Cothron, North Carolina Sea Grant, moderator

featuring:

Near-Term Monitoring and Data Needs for Assessing Sea Level Rise Impacts
Natalie Nelson, Megan Carr, and Thomas Thelen, moderators

featuring:

A woman standing at a podium giving a presentation in front of a screen
Lydia Sellers, Duke University, speaks about landscape-level changes at the coast. Credit: Dan DiNicola.

Lightning Talks
Frank López, North Carolina Sea Grant, moderator

Abstracts for all the Lightning Talks are available on pages 29-31 of the conference program.

Lin Xiong, East Carolina University, delivers a Lightning Talk.
Lin Xiong, East Carolina University, delivers a Lightning Talk. Credit: Becky Kirkland.

Presenters:

The presenters and abstracts for the poster session are available on pages 32-41 in the conference program. Six graduate students received awards for their posters, and you can read more about those presentations here.

“The evening reception and poster session were outstanding. I think this was also the best time for networking.”

– Attendee

Day 2

Susan White, North Carolina Sea Grant’s executive director, kicked off the second day of the conference. Guest speakers Randy Woodson, Chancellor, and Mladen Vouk, Vice Chancellor for Research, then welcomed participants on behalf of NC State and noted the conference’s role in supporting the university’s research and mission. The concurrent sessions followed.

Enhancing the Resilience of the North Carolina Seafood Industry
Barry Nash, North Carolina Sea Grant, moderator

featuring:

Management of Seagrass Habitat and the Blue Crab Fishery Under Changing Climate
Whitney Jenkins, North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve, moderator

featuring:

Cross-Cutting Coastal Resilience Efforts and Building Strategic Climate Partnerships
Sarah Spiegler, North Carolina Sea Grant, moderator

featuring: