Dr. Jessica Brunacini (she/her) is a coastal resilience scholar-practitioner who has nearly two decades of experience working in climate change engagement, planning, and research. In June of 2024, Jessica took over as the Director of the Coastal Training Program (CTP) from her friend and mentor, Dr. Chris Feurt. In this role, she supports communities, builds capacity, and provides technical assistance to decision-makers on adapting to the impacts of sea level rise, coastal erosion, increased flooding, and stronger, more frequent storms. Jessica is especially interested in identifying engaged, equitable, and empathetic strategies for working with communities who are ready to begin talking about and planning for “getting out of harm’s way.”
Before she was CTP Director, Jessica was the inaugural Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellow at the Wells Reserve from 2020-2022. For her fellowship project, she worked with community members in Wells to explore the effects of place attachment on resident’s experiences with change, perceptions of risk, and visions of the future using a participatory research method called Photovoice. The images and stories that residents shared helped Jessica understand that people care deeply for the places they are connected to and experiencing the impacts of climate change on those places can be a very emotional experience, a finding that now guides her approach to coastal resilience.
Jessica started her career as an environmental educator, working with non-profit organizations to design and deliver hands-on programming to learners of all ages throughout New York City. From there, she went on to co-develop a professional training program supported by the United Nations that focused on population dynamics and climate change, which she helped pilot with decision-makers in Lilongwe, Malawi. She then served as Assistant Director of the Polar Learning and Responding: PoLAR Climate Change Education Partnership, an interdisciplinary research project based at Columbia University that developed innovative approaches for engaging lifelong learners on the issue of climate change. Among her experiences with PoLAR, Jessica’s involvement in co-facilitating the Signs of the Land: Reaching Arctic Communities Facing Climate Change Camp project was particularly impactful. Developed by and for members of Alaska Native communities, the camp wove together Indigenous Knowledge, local observations, and western science in order to foster dialogue and knowledge exchange around climate change. That experience of learning how to work across cultures and ways of knowing in a good way continues to inform her work today. Most recently, Jessica worked as a Coastal Community Resilience Extension Associate with Maine Sea Grant.
Jessica was born and raised in Albuquerque, N.M. – decidedly not a coastal place but an enchanting one nonetheless. She is a first-generation college student and holds a Ph.D. in Community Sustainability and Environmental Science and Policy from Michigan State University, an M.A. in Environmental Conservation Education from New York University, and a B.A. in Fine Art Photography from the University of New Mexico.