Meet Kaitlyn, Our New Science and Restoration Program Manager

Greetings! My name is Kaitlyn Shaw.  I recently joined Ipswich River staff as the Science and Restoration Program Manager.  My love of the water began as a small child, where I spent summers catching crayfish in the Pound Ridge Reservation streams near my home in Cross River, NY.  In middle school, I was fortunate to attend The Whale Camp, where campers logged seabird and marine mammal sightings aboard a schooner in the waters off Grand Manan, Nova Scotia.

Flash forward to the summer following my first year of college.  I found out that I could volunteer with the NY Department of Environmental Protection Stream Monitoring Program.  As a volunteer, I used field tests kits and gained hands-on experience testing water chemistry. Let’s just say, I was hooked.  Soon after, I switched colleges so that I could have more hands-on field and laboratory experience as an undergraduate. I attended the University of Connecticut Avery Point campus and started an internship in the Coastal Ecology Lab.  Tasks included measuring pelagic respiration in Long Island Sound, assessing the impact of oyster depuration gear on eelgrass, and gaining experience with nutrient auto-analyzers.

After graduating, I began an eelgrass research assistant internship with Save the Bay in Narragansett Bay Rhode Island.  Here, I learned about the importance of community outreach and engaging the public in fun and exciting ways. I knew I wanted to go back to school, so after the internship I matriculated as a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts: School for Marine Science and Technology.  In the Coastal Systems Program lab, I had the opportunity to participate in a wide range of applied-science research projects, which gave me an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving. These projects ranged from water quality sampling in fresh and salt water systems, stormwater studies and modeling nutrient dynamics of tidally restricted wetlands to the use of video surveys to assess submerged opportunistic seaweed coverage.  While working towards my Master’s degree in Coastal Systems Science, I gained experience with biogeochemical analyses relating to water quality, nutrient related ecological health and coastal pollution.

After graduation, I took a hiatus from the East Coast and landed a position as a Water Microbiologist with the Maui County Department of Water Supply.  Maui was beautiful, but I missed the chilly Atlantic waters I had become accustomed to during my studies! While job hunting I returned back to my fresh water roots and assisted the Hudson Riverkeepers as a data analysis volunteer before accepting a job in Nantucket for the Town’s Natural Resource Department.   As the Water Resource Specialist, I was responsible for monitoring the water quality of Nantucket’s Harbors and Great Ponds and informing management of the Island’s water resources.

Nantucket was an incredible place to get acquainted with municipal government, stakeholder engagement and water resource management.  However, when I saw the announcement for the Ipswich River Restoration Manager, I was compelled to apply so that I could share this information on a regional level.  While my background is in Coastal Systems Science, I believe that watershed management begins at the source and that restoration is critical to protect and improve our water resources.  I am thrilled to be a part of the IRWA staff and can’t wait to meet the Board of Directors and all the volunteers who make our work possible!

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