Colleen O'Brien, Ph.D.
Coastal Resilience Lead
Based at the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture (YCNCC), Colleen O’Brien is a climate resilience and nature-based solutions expert with experience spanning research, consulting, and international development.
Colleen previously served as an Urban Resilience Advisor with USAID and has worked to advance climate-resilient infrastructure and nature-based solutions in the U.S. and internationally. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University. She now supports coastal resilience programming through a collaboration between YCNCC and the Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative (ELTI) at the Yale School of the Environment, with a focus on translating science and practice into training, peer learning, and technical support for coastal resilience practitioners.
One of the things that excites me most about this work is the opportunity to bring together people working on coastal resilience from different perspectives and across different communities. I'm looking forward to helping create opportunities for collaboration, sharing lessons learned, and advancing community-centered solutions to climate change."
Colleen O'Brien
