Bridging the gap from science to community

about me

I bring the best practices in participant engagement and scientific data collection to community science programs across Washington.

Currently I...

manage 2 state-wide monitoring programs, powered by 500+ volunteers & 25+ partnering orgs.
support Washington's new Marine Debris Action Plan as a steering committee member
advise Seattle Public Utilities as an appointed member of the city's Solid Waste Advisory Committee

Outside of science, I...

served as a trained facilitator and Community Science Fellow for a locally-led waste reduction project with American Geophysical Union
founded a teaching-oriented bike shop while attending Clemson University
entertained National Park visitors with stories of wilderness advocates like my heroes Mardy and Olaus Murie
taught trailbuilding to Boy Scouts in northern New Mexico

Together, they've taught me the challenges and reward of building bridges between exciting, new environmental science and the communities and policy-makers who can benefit from it best.

Lisa stands on hillside pointing to plant as a citizen science data collector looks on.

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My approach to science

Recent Interviews

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"Looking for crab molts to stop invasive green crabs"

NPR's KUOW. June 2024.

"Patricia Murphy takes a beach walk with Sea Grant’s Lisa Watkins"

"In the hunt for invasive green crab, Molt Search seeks their shedded shells"

Sea Star Magazine. Summer 2024.

"Watkins is hopeful that the program can play a role in sharing resource managers’ and biologists’ technical expertise with the local communities they’re already serving by, as she puts it, “bringing green crab management work out from behind the curtain."

"Troubled Waters: Microplastic Pollution"

Cornell Research. Aug 2021.

"Watkins’ research takes her many places, but perhaps the most meaningful to her are the communities with whom she partners. There, she connects with a variety of individuals, from politicians to middle-schoolers."

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Research + more

Projects I've led & What we learned

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map of Ithaca New York showing the 6 dams sampled for the project mentioned below.

Microplastics
+ Dams

On foot and by canoe, the masters student I supervised sampled the water and sediment at 6 different local dams.

We found: Plastic gets trapped behind dams and enters the sediment. But not so many that the next dam downstream ends up receiving a noticeable amount less.

Participatory Science
+ Plastic Pollution

Citizen scientists enthusiastically contribute to plastic pollution datasets. But are the methods they're told to follow creating useful data?

I compared app-based Litterati citizen science data to randomized litter audits from the same years & locations. I found Litterati lets us learn more about people-patterns than litter patterns, and I identify some easy method improvements to better honor volunteer's efforts.

Community Science
+ Food Waste

As a project manager with Thriving Earth Exchange, I guided scoping and stakeholder identification for a community group in need of scientific expertise.

Now, I facilitate their meetings between government, NGO, and academic stakeholders to drive the project forward on budget ($10k) and on time (2yr). By December we'll have a detailed advocacy campaign for reducing food waste & greenhouse gases, supported by community-tailored scientific analysis.

See all projects

Scientist

National Science Foundation
Graduate Research Fellow

Supervised 15+ masters + undergraduate students
Field collection + laboratory & data analysis based on my own design
Outreach to local schools
Liaison between community groups & scientists

Mini Resumé

Recent experience

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Interpreter

Teton Science Schools
The Murie Ranch

Taught Science 101 & plant identification to citizen science volunteers in partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
Provided interpretive programming to National Park visitors about conservation & Wilderness
Responsible for logistics, safety and building community values for residential guests

Analyst

Environmental Defense Fund
Democratizing Data project

Produced environmental justice analytical mapping tools for policy makers
Answered "Who lives near Oil & Gas wells" using GIS (ESRI) and US Census data
Collaborator on interdisciplinary team (attorney, chemist, policy expert, and community outreach specialist)

Relevant Coursework

Reproducible (Open) Data Science
Project Management
Science Communication
Data Sharing
Environmental Science, Policy, Law & Ethics
Improv Theater
GIS (ArcMap, QGIS)
Data Analysis (R + Tidyverse, Python, Excel)

Awards & Certifications

Community Science Fellow, Thriving Earth Exchange, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Voices for Science Advocate, AGU
Graduate Research Fellow, National Science Foundation (Wageningen University, NL)
National Scholar, Clemson University
William T. Hornaday Award, Scouting USA
Wilderness First Responder
Engineer in Training

Writing

~ Latest Blog Posts ~

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Workshop: Elevator pitches & Sharing your science story

April 2021

A workshop curriculum I developed (& led for my lab group) on better answering the question "So...what do you do?" for scientists.

screenshot of upgoer-five sci-comm text editor

A plastic additive to remind us our health isn’t always up to us.

February 2021

New research published February 18th in the American Journal of Public Health highlights one specific part of your health you no longer have control over: pthalates.

My experience as an AGU "Voice for Science"

January 2021

Unfinished reflections on my year with the American Geophysical Unions science communication incubator.

Cartoon drawn by Lisa Watkins about plastic pollution science

Cartoon drawing about new microplastic research. By Lisa Watkins, Spring 2020

Contact

Let's connect!

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Google Scholar

Washington Sea Grant Staff Page

Bridging the gap from science to community

Recent Interviews

Projects I've led & What we learned

Microplastics + Dams

Participatory Science + Plastic Pollution

Community Science + Food Waste

Scientist

Recent experience

Interpreter

Relevant Coursework

Awards & Certifications

~ Latest Blog Posts ~

Workshop: Elevator pitches & Sharing your science story

A plastic additive to remind us our health isn’t always up to us.

My experience as an AGU "Voice for Science"

Let's connect!

Microplastics
+ Dams

Participatory Science
+ Plastic Pollution

Community Science
+ Food Waste