Michelle Covi joined the unit in September 2021 and works regionally in the Southeast to connect Sea Grant programs with military community coastal resilience projects through a partnership with SERPPAS (Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability) and the Department of Defense REPI (Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration) program.

She comes to Georgia after six years as a coastal resilience lead in the Virginia Sea Grant extension program with Old Dominion University and six years with a coastal hazards center at East Carolina University where she also completed her doctorate in coastal resources management. Covi is a University of Georgia alumna, having received her master’s degree in zoology (marine science) after completing research at the UGA Marine Institute. She lives on her husband’s family farm in Hartwell, Georgia, just a couple of miles from the Savannah River.