Marci Bortman (PhD, 1997)

Marci Bortman is the Director of Conservation Programs and the Marine Team Leader for The Nature Conservancy on Long Island. Marci is actively engaged in conservation strategies to restore and protect Long Island’s land and water. Her work includes preserving and restoring shellfish, eelgrass, salt marsh and natural shorelines, promoting better stewardship of our forests and grasslands, land protection, and development of public policy strategies to improve water quality and mitigate environmental threats.

Her professional experience includes working as a John A. Knauss Sea Grant Marine Policy Fellow, and as Senior Congressional Staff to the Honorable William J. Hughes, member United States House of Representatives, advising him on marine and environmental federal policy.

Marci earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and a master’s degree from Florida Institute of Technology. She received her Ph.D. (1997) in coastal oceanography from SoMAS, then the Marine Sciences Research Center, at Stony Brook University. Her doctoral research focused on the trends in land use, sewage and stormwater and their relationship with coastal water quality in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.