Laura Jean Palmer-Moloney

Laura Jean (Jean or Lj) Palmer-Moloney is intrigued by the chaos of systems and the often tangled complexity of human-environment interaction. With two PhDs, Palmer-Moloney has experience across the scientific, academic, nonprofit, policy, and environmental communities, recruited often to give meaning and context to highly technical material and to serve as a go-between for engineers and scientists, policy analysts, and decision-makers. She brings 30+ years of experience and expertise in education (K-16), problem-based learning, and environmental sustainability and systems assessment (water-food-energy nexus).  

Living in coastal North Carolina, she is on the faculty at East Carolina University and teaches undergraduate and graduate physical geography courses.  In addition to teaching, Palmer-Moloney is founder of VTT, a science consulting business supporting ecosystem health and blue economy innovation.

In addition to numerous academic appointments, she served in the Department of Defense as Senior Advisor on Water – Helmand Province, Afghanistan (2011-2012) and as a Senior Research Geographer with the US Army Corps of Engineers/Geospatial Research Lab and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).  

As a research scientist, hydrogeographer, and educator with experience and expertise in coastal resources management, her values and core beliefs are reflected in the work she does.