Meet Our People

Executive Director

Matt Womble

Executive Director, Alabama Water Institute

Photo of Matt Womble, AWI's Executive Director

AWI Research Entity Directors

Steven J. Burian, Ph.D., PE

Executive Director, CIROH; Director of Science, Alabama Water Institute; Professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering

Steve Burian, Ph.D.

AWI Directors

Lanna Nations

Research Education and Outreach Program Director

Lanna Nations Photo

Stefanie O’Neill, M.A.

Director Research Institute Financial Affairs

Stefanie O'Neill photo

AWI Staff

C. Bullen

CIROH Project Coordinator

Denny Chimes

Allison Chapman

Accountant II

photo of Allison Chapman

James Halgren, Ph.D., PE

Assistant Director Science and Research Operations

James Halgren photo

Charity McCalpin

CIROH Research Project Coordinator

Charity McCalpin photograph

Arpita Patel

Manager Development Operations and Enterprise Architect

Photo of Arpita Patel

Shannon Price

AWI Sponsored Programs Manager

Photograph of Shannon Price

Ryan Ruiz

CIROH Communications Specialist II

Denny Chimes

Cass Saenz

Financial Analyst

Photograph of Cass Saenz

Amrutha Suresh, Ph.D.

AWI Postdoctoral Fellow

Denny Chimes

Marie Wilson

Education and Outreach Coordinator

Photograph of Marie Wilson

Kaelin Wincek

CIROH Administrative Assistant I

Denny Chimes

AWI Student Employees

Riley Baird

AWI Multimedia Intern

Denny Chimes

Zoe Falkenberg

CIROH Communications Intern

Denny Chimes

Ashley Villegas

Education & Outreach Intern

Photograph of Ashley Villegas

CIROH Employees

Sagy Cohen

Deputy Director, CIROH
Professor of Geography

Photography of Dr. Sagy Cohen

Yun-Jae Choung

Water Node Operations Manager

Denny Chimes

Josh Cunningham

Software Scientist II

Denny Chimes

Juzer Dhondia

Physical Scientist

Photograph of Juzer Dhondia

Bhavya Duvvuri, Ph.D.

CIROH Postdoctoral Fellow

Denny Chimes

Xia Feng

Physical Scientist

Denny Chimes

Camaron George

Physical Scientist

Denny Chimes

Rich Gibbs

Geospatial Scientist

Denny Chimes

Dong Ha Kim, Ph.D.

Physical Scientist

Photograph of Dr. Dong Ha Kim

Sonam Lama

Programmer Analyst I

Denny Chimes

Benjamin Lee, M.S.

Development Operations Engineer

Benjamin Lee

Quinn Lee

Programmer Analyst II

Denny Chimes

Travis Loof, Ph.D.

Social & Communication Scientist

Photograph of Dr. Travis Loof.

Alemayehu Midekisa

Geospatial Scientist

Photograph of Alemayehu Midekisa

Chad Perry

Software Scientist

Denny Chimes

Dina Sang

Physical Scientist

Photograph of Dina Sang

JunHo Song, Ph.D.

Hydrologic Scientist I

Photograph of Junho Song. Portrait of a man wearing glasses and a dark blue suit with a light blue button-up shirt, standing in front of a neutral gray background.

Sai Harsha Vemula

DevOps Engineer

Denny Chimes

Elliot Wickham, Ph.D.

Hydrologic Scientist I

Photograph of Dr. Elliot Wickham

CONSERVE Employees

Michael McKain, Ph.D

Assistant Director of Future Ecologies

Photograph of Dr. Michael McKain

Katrina Ducre

CONSERVE Research Program Coordinator

Denny Chimes

Ellis Halgren

Public Land Corps Intern

Photograph of Ellis Halgren

Parker King

Graduate Research Assistant

Photograph of Parker King

Ekaterina Menkina

Graduate Research Assistant

Photograph of Ekaterina Menkina

Anthony Vedral

CONSERVE Sea Grant Research Coordinator

Photograph of Anthony Vedral

GWSC Employees

Penny Beames

Contractor

Photograph of Penny Beames

LaCrecia Brown

Program Coordinator

Photograph of LaCrecia Brown

Emma Dyson

Cartographer

Photograph of Emma Dyson

Misty Mathews

Chief of Staff
Strategic Operations Program Manager.

Photograph of Misty Matthews