Melanie Gárate (former Team Member)

Melanie Gárate was the Climate Resiliency Project Manager for the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA). She is now with Stone Living Lab. She started her career as a marine scientist examining how people impact climate change. Through her research projects, she was struck by the disproportionate access to green spaces within low-income communities and people of color, which sparked her passion for environmental justice work. Now she focuses on understanding how climate change affects people. At MyRWA, Melanie works with municipal CEOs, grassroots organizations, public health officials, and local residents in the Boston area to understand who the most vulnerable populations are during and after extreme weather and ways the municipalities within the watershed can work collectively to enhance climate equity and resilience.

Melanie holds a M.S. degree in Marine Ecology and Climate Change from the University of Rhode Island, where she obtained a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to study human impacts on mangroves in Puerto Rico. Prior to MyWRA, she focused on coastal conservation and educating community members of the greater Boston area at Mass Audubon and the New England Aquarium.