2019 SWANApalooza

Jenna Jambeck
Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering
University of Georgia


Dr. Jenna Jambeck is an Associate Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA). She has been conducting research on solid waste issues for 20 years with related projects on marine debris since 2001. She also specializes in global waste management issues and plastic contamination. Her work on plastic waste inputs into the ocean has been widely recognized by the global community and translated into policy discussions by the Global Ocean Commission, in testimony to U.S. Congress, G7, G20, and the United Nations Environment program. She has won awards for her teaching and research in the College of Engineering and the UGA Creative Research Medal, as well as a Public Service and Outreach Fellowship for 2016–2017. In 2014 she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with 13 other women in XXpedition to sample land and open ocean plastic and encourage women to enter STEM disciplines. This trip translated into extensive outreach on this issue locally in K–12 schools and around the globe at speaking events. She is co-developer of the mobile app Marine Debris Tracker, a tool that continues to facilitate a growing global citizen science initiative. The app and citizen science program has documented the location of over one million litter and marine debris items removed from our environment throughout the world.

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