Meet Meghan Kolk

Meghan Kolk joined the Research and Conservation Department at The Wetlands Institute as the Conservation Scientist in early May. Prior to joining us, Meghan spent five years as a wildlife biologist with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. For four of those years she served as a partner biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the New Jersey Field Office, where she managed conservation and restoration projects on military lands and developed Beach Management Plans for the protection and recovery of threatened and endangered beach species.

Meghan began her career in conservation as a beach steward for migratory shorebirds and beach-nesting birds, and then worked as a seasonal employee for New Jersey Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program as a beach-nesting bird technician. In addition to working with shorebirds and beach-nesting birds, Meghan has experience working with grassland bird species, barn owls, bats, and horseshoe crabs. She earned a B.S. in Biology at The College of New Jersey. In her personal time Meghan is a wildlife artist, and enjoys bird watching, kayaking, snorkeling, traveling, and spending time at the beach.

Meet Amanda Lyons

Amanda Lyons officially joined The Wetlands Institute as Research and Conservation Coordinator in May 2022, after several years of involvement in our Research and Conservation department, first as a CCRP intern in 2018, then as a Visiting Undergraduate Researcher while conducting genetic research on diamondback terrapins in 2019, and finally as a Research Assistant in 2021-2022. She received her Bachelor of Science in 2020 and Master of Science in 2021, both from Brown University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

For her Master’s thesis, Amanda worked to understand population genetic trends and connectivity of diamondback terrapins in the northeastern U.S. Balancing research interests that use coding and spatial analysis to make sense of large datasets with a passion for being out in the mud and on the beaches, Amanda has most recently contributed to TWI’s terrapin radio telemetry project and horseshoe crab conservation project. She is very excited to join the team full-time, become more involved in teaching and mentorship of our Coastal Conservation Research Program interns, and continue to contribute to research across the department.