Anna Weiss, Ph.D. is the Director of Green Galveston Initiatives at Vision Galveston. Anna is a coastal scientist and community engagement specialist with nearly a decade of experience conducting environmental research and connecting people with their coasts. She grew up on a barrier island in New York and was inspired to pursue environmental science after seeing the impact Hurricane Sandy had on her hometown. Although initially trained as an academic scientist, she left that field to have a more hands-on role working with communities.
Prior to joining Vision Galveston, Anna was the Community Science Program Manager at the Billion Oyster Project in New York City, where she got everyone from kindergarteners to retirees involved in oyster restoration and water quality testing. Before this, she was an Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. Anna earned a B.A. in Anthropology from Stony Brook University, a Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of Texas at Austin, and subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in reef ecology at the Environmental Research Institute of the University of Belize. Her work over the years has resulted in eight scientific papers, six invited talks, and over a dozen conference presentations. She is excited to be back in TX and to help create a greener Galveston!