About

Kennedy Wall serves as the Coral Disease Associate with Florida Sea Grant, working closely with the National Disease Coordinator to provide enhanced coordination and streamlined response to mitigate the devastating impacts of stony coral tissue loss disease. She first joined the Florida Sea Grant team as the Coral Disease Communications Intern, where she worked to spread awareness on the disease through targeted science communication and outreach. Most recently, Kennedy worked at the Cape Eleuthera Island School in the Bahamas where she taught applied research, marine ecology and scuba diving. She also worked as a Research Technician with the Bahamas Coral Innovation Hub at the Cape Eleuthera Institute where she worked on coral restoration through asexual propagation and larval enhancement, in addition to disease monitoring. 

Kennedy holds a B.S. in Marine Science, Biology and Spanish from the University of Miami and completed an undergraduate thesis that investigated the effects of ocean acidification on staghorn coral. She is currently pursuing a M.A. in Conservation Biology through the Global Field Program at Miami University of Ohio. Outside of work, you can find Kennedy spending time traveling or exploring the outdoors. She enjoys anything that has to do with the ocean, may it be surfing, diving, swimming or simply walking on the beach.

Projects, Research & Specializations

As the Coral Disease Associate, Kennedy provides enhanced coordination to the U.S. national response to stony coral tissue loss disease, a deadly and rapidly spreading disease afflicting corals throughout Florida and the wider Caribbean. She has helped in the planning and execution of several workshops including the U.S. Caribbean Regional SCTLD workshop, Florida’s Disturbance Response and Recovery Technical workshop, Florida and Puerto Rico Sea Grant’s Collaborative Coral workshop, and a Pacific Preparedness workshop at the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force meeting. Working with the co-chairs of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Coral Disease Working Group, Kennedy helps facilitate efforts to stop the further transmission of the disease and support preparedness planning in U.S. Pacific coral reef jurisdictions, where the disease has not yet been detected.