Alyssa Johnson

Alyssa Johnson joined CSI in March 2024, where she oversees education and outreach programs and coordinates CSI’s Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Monitoring Program on Cayuga Lake. Her work focuses on connecting people with the natural world and creating opportunities for community members of all ages and backgrounds to participate in meaningful science.

Alyssa’s career has centered on wildlife, conservation, and environmental education. Before joining CSI, she worked in several states, including Alaska and the Florida Keys, experiences that gave her the opportunity to explore and learn from natural environments at opposite ends of the country. She also spent five years with the National Audubon Society at the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, where she led environmental education programs for K–12 students, guided hikes and paddles, and conducted bird surveys, including monitoring hundreds of thousands of migrating waterfowl during the spring migration.

At CSI, Alyssa traded her spotting scope for a microscope, moving from counting Snow Geese to identifying cyanobacteria in Cayuga Lake. She was drawn to CSI’s community science model and the opportunity to work alongside people from all walks of life who volunteer their time to accomplish what staff could never do alone. She believes that science is most powerful when people can see themselves as participants in it, and strives to make science fun, relatable, and engaging.

Alyssa holds degrees from Finger Lakes Community College and the State University of New York at Cobleskill, where she studied environmental conservation and wildlife biology. She lives in Trumansburg with her fiancé and their two dogs. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the Finger Lakes through hiking, exploring waterfalls, fossil hunting, and bird watching.