Camille Gaynus ’10, PhD

Dr. Camille Gaynus is a marine scientist and ocean advocate whose career has taken her from the coral reefs of French Polynesia to the forefront of environmental justice. After earning her BS in Marine and Environmental Science from Hampton University, she completed her PhD in Biology at UCLA in 2019—where her research focused on the environmental factors driving algal proliferation across coral reef ecosystems in the South Pacific. She went on to postdoctoral research at UC Santa Barbara and the University of Pennsylvania before joining Black in Marine Science (BIMS) as Chief Science Officer, where she has helped secure over $3 million in funding and leads programs connecting diverse communities to coastal science.