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The MMA welcomed Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Sherman as Senior Marine Science Advisor in summer 2025. Dr. Sherman has shaped MMA’s harbor buoy program into a rigorous, decision-relevant monitoring effort focused on biodiversity in Nantucket Harbor. She established the procedures that verify the buoy’s continuous measurements, cross-checked key variables against other monitoring records, and advanced data collaboration with regional organizations. She also advises on program design and gives outreach talks that translate sensor records into ecological meaning.

Dr. Sherman earned a B.A. and Ph.D. in biology and completed postdoctoral research in Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University before beginning her teaching and research career at Bennington College, where she is Professor Emerita of Biology. Throughout her career, she built hands-on, field- and lab-based research programs that trained students to ask testable questions and collect defensible data. She has also worked to strengthen the public understanding of 

science and its role in civic life through education consulting and public speaking.