BALD HEAD ISLAND — The Bald Head Island Conservancy is launching a research fund and partnership between its Johnston Center for Coastal Sustainability and Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow to combine innovative technology and data analyses with island conservation efforts.
Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow involves graduate students from the college who focus on discovery science, engineering innovation, and AI-enabled decision tools to address environmental and community resilience. The partnership will focus on coastal sustainability, ecosystem health, and environmental resilience.
“The Bald Head Island Conservancy and its Johnston Center for Coastal Sustainability exemplify how place‑based conservation and rigorous science can work together to create real impact,” faculty director Joel Kostka said. “The Bald Head Island Conservancy’s long‑term stewardship, research infrastructure, and commitment to translating science into action make it an ideal partner for Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow as we advance collaborative research that strengthens coastal resilience across the Southeast.”
A partnership between the two institutions is not new. Gabie Krueger, a Georgia Tech Ph.D. student in Ocean Sciences and Engineering and BHIC’s 2025-26 Johnston Graduate Fellow in Coastal Sustainability, has already worked with the BHIC on a salt marsh ecology project analyzing how ribbed mussels and fiddler crabs influence the health of Bald Head Island’s salt marsh grass.
“The Bald Head Island Conservancy is thrilled about this opportunity to create a formal research partnership with Georgia Tech, one of the nation’s most esteemed research universities,” BHIC Executive Director G. Christopher Shank said. “It is recognition of the quality of conservation studies we are currently pursuing at the Conservancy and it also augments the impact of our work for BHI and beyond because of the technological and data analysis talent that Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow will bring to this partnership.”
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