We are excited to welcome Ashley Parks to the Applied Ecology Team as Environmental Scientist III.

Ashley received her Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Science from Eckerd College and received her Master of Science degree in Chemical Oceanography from the University of South Florida. Her 15 years of professional experience has been focused on studying relationships between water quality and harmful algal blooms to determine mitigation and management strategies for improved water quality conditions and overall ecosystem health.

Ms. Parks specializes in field data collection, laboratory nutrient analyses, data quality assurance and analysis, and the deployment of in situ water quality monitoring sensors. She started her career with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute where she studied the effects of nutrient dynamics in Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on Florida Red Tide and other harmful algae species. Her studies included research on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on nutrients and phytoplankton in the Gulf of Mexico. In the past 9 years, as part of the St. Johns River Water Management District, she focused her career on the application of continuous water quality monitoring and seagrass assessments for ecosystem restoration. At AEI, Ms. Parks will continue to expand her skillset in applied ecological and water resource studies, including providing data quality assurance, sensor implementation and integration, plan development, and informing management decisions based on data analyses.

In her free time, Ashley enjoys SCUBA diving, paddle sports, camping, hiking, and spending time with her two children.