My name is Madeline Kaufman, and I am the Program and Outreach Director at Debris Free Oceans and a Research Associate in Dr. Diego Lirman’s Benthic Ecology and Coral Restoration Lab the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Debris Free Oceans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to inspiring local communities to responsibly manage the lifecycle of plastics and waste through sustainability consulting, outreach & education, and cleanup events. Dr. Lirman’s lab is dedicated to conducting research and restoration activities to ensure the long-term survival of our beautiful and essential coral reef and seagrass ecosystems.

I recently received my Master of Science in Marine Biology and Ecology at the University of Miami, and my research focused on examining extrinsic and intrinsic drivers (such as genotype, size effects, and historical environment) on coral colony performance metrics (such as growth, wound healing, and thermal tolerance). Although not required of master’s students, I worked as a teaching for 3 different courses because I aspire to become an impactful educator. While working at the lab, I assist with all ongoing projects through fieldwork and data analysis assistance. I dive on a regular basis to maintain our coral nurseries, outplant corals, and survey reefs (just logged my 300th scientific dive, woohoo!), and also work to propagate mounding corals through microfragmentation on shore. In addition, I assist with our annual seagrass bed and macroalgae surveys as part of monitoring impacts of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan on the beautiful Biscayne Bay.

I am actively involved in outreach as a team leader for Rescue a Reef, the citizen science project of the Lirman Lab. As such, I help lead SCUBA excursions during which recreational divers participate in coral gardening, I educate student groups about coral restoration, and I table on behalf of our organization at outreach events.

I am also actively involved in outreach through my work at Debris Free Oceans, where I began volunteering in 2016. I work regularly with businesses and local governments to provide sustainability consulting services and help establishments reduce their dependence on single-use plastics (more info HERE). I am constantly reading the latest research about plastics, marine debris, and waste management to update our educational presentations, which I deliver to schools throughout Miami-Dade and beyond (more info HERE). Lastly, I engage the public in fun and educational cleanup events including Pub Crawl Pick-Ups, SCUBA cleanups, kayak cleanups, and yoga cleanups (more info HERE).

In my free time, I work as a divemaster and environmental coordinator at South Beach Divers, a PADI 5-star facility in the heart of South Beach that regularly runs excursions in Miami and Key Largo. As such, I organize and lead conservation-oriented dive trips including reef cleanups, Lionfish derbies and coral restoration expeditions. I also teach SCUBA refresher courses and guide certified divers at sites along the Florida Reef Tract, working with the international clientele that come to dive in Miami from all over the world. 

I love working at the intersection between science-based conservation, positive community engagement, and effective communication, but strive to incorporate environmental justice into my future pursuits. The murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement have truly opened my eyes to the incredible amount of ongoing injustices faced by minority communities in the United States and around the world. This injustice comes not only in the form of police brutality and the criminal justice system, but also through unequally distributed environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change impacts, which are less frequently discussed but equally important. The unequal distribution of these factors leads to disproportionate health impacts needs to be at the forefront of conservation conversations.

At Debris Free Oceans, we encourage communities to abandon single-use plastics-which is a privilege, I might add. The reason we do this goes far beyond saving turtles. Single-use plastics disproportionately impact BIPOC communities throughout each phase of the lifecycle, from production, to use, to disposal. In my future studies, I hope to begin to quantify and shed light on these impacts to further motivate the abandonment of single-use plastics, in communities where such abandonment is accessible.