Our Team

Dr. Candice Piercy is a research environmental engineer at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center. She received her PhD from Virginia Tech in 2010 in Biosystems Engineering and is a licensed professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Her research focus is on the simulation of feedbacks between ecological and physical processes, primarily driven by vegetation, in a variety of ecosystems including salt marshes, dunes, estuaries, and river floodplains. She also conducts field monitoring studies and helps develop ecologically-informed engineering guidance for coastal ecosystems.

Dr. Todd Swannack is a senior research biologist at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center. He received his PhD from Texas A &M University in 2007 in Ecological Modeling. His research focuses on developing mechanistic-based ecological models, integrating models, model evaluation and how to communicate models to non-modelers.

Dr. Thomas Huff is a contracted Senior Environmental Data Scientist at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center and Adjunct Research Scientist at Texas A&M University. He received his PhD in Ecosystem Science and Management from Texas A&M University in 2017. Dr. Huff’s utilizes numerical and spatial data analysis techniques to produce insights relating to ecological and engineering with nature concepts.

Kiara Cushway is a contracted Research Analyst at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center. She received her Master’s Degree in Aquatic Resources from Texas State University in 2023. Her research has mostly focused on native freshwater mussels and riverine ecosystems.