Julia Royster
Marine Habitat Resource Specialist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Habitat Conservation, Restoration Center
American living in Silver Spring, United States
Julia Royster is a natural resource manager specializing in coral and coastal ecology with a passion for education and outreach. She is a Restoration Specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Restoration Center. She leads strategic thinking for coral restoration projects, and serves as a senior Federal Program Officer. She manages funding competitions for proposals from qualified applicants to implement capacity-building or on-the-ground coastal habitat restoration projects across the country.
Her current focus is building the Restoration Center’s capacity and connection to the needs of tribes and underserved communities in the restoration space. She manages roughly 30 restoration projects at a time. Over the past 15 years, she has built relationships with partners in the East Coast, Great Lakes, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, the West Coast, and the Pacific. She has worked with the Community-based Restoration Program, the Great Lakes Program, the Estuary Habitat Restoration Program, and the Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program.
She is always learning a new resource or geography, and building new relationships with partners. Across all of the roles she has filled, she uses creative thinking, problem solving, and her listening skills to help the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Ocean Service manage the natural resources under their authority with dynamic financial resources.
Her life goal is to build up others around her by listening and knowledge sharing, sharing her network and skills, and connecting those with shared interests, so collectively we can maximize our impact in conserving our natural resources using our individual skills. She draws on her enthusiasm for science to spark inspiration for future scientists and encourage everyone to be the best steward of our limited natural resources.
Her family and pets – especially Lily – keep her life balanced, and provide endless opportunities for practicing mindfulness.
