Dr. Lyza Johnson, Ph.D., JAMS

Dr. Lyza Johnston is a coral reef ecologist and the Founder and Executive Director of Johnston Applied Marine Sciences (JAMS), an independent marine conservation and research organization based in Saipan, CNMI. Before moving to the Mariana Islands over ten years ago, she received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Sciences. Dr. Johnston and her team are working towards restoring more climate resilient coral populations and reef ecosystems in the CNMI, which will, in turn, support and improve the resilience of the island communities that rely on them. They are developing, testing, and implementing tools and interventions that will increase the thermal tolerance and adaptive capacity of restored coral populations. Current projects include identifying coral populations that are naturally thermally tolerant to use in restoration efforts, assisted breeding and the development of tools to support large-scale restoration using sexually produced corals, as well as more traditional coral culturing, outplanting, and monitoring.