Dr. Michelle Johnston is a marine biologist, NOAA dive master and the Superintendent of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). She got certified to scuba dive at the age of 14, and the rest is history! She completed her B.S. in Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she rehabbed sick and injured sea turtles at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Topsail, North Carolina. Michelle’s academic studies continued at the University of South Carolina where she completed her M.S. and Ph.D. conducting water quality bacterial contaminant research at NOAA’s Center for Coastal Health and Biomolecular Research and worked as a sea turtle field biologist at University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Pritchard’s Island. After her graduate studies, Michelle was awarded a NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy fellowship with NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and has been with the marine sanctuary program ever since serving a variety of roles, including acting deputy superintendent at National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa where she conducted reef monitoring and combatted the crown-of-thorns starfish invasion. Michelle brings a wide variety of expertise across multiple fields of sanctuary management, including coral reef ecology, invasive species and marine resource management. In her free time, you can find Michelle on her yoga mat teaching classes in Galveston, competing in triathlons, or camping with her husband and 6-year-old son.
Project Title
- “Meeting Near Real Time Data Gap Needs for the Remote Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico”
