Alyssa Dausman

Alyssa Dausman, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist, oversees all science and research at the Water Institute. As part the of the senior executive team, Alyssa works with the CEO and COO supporting all administrative and operations functions to maintain a sustainable and impactful nonprofit. 

She continues to perform scientific research and strategically leads select large-scale projects or programs involving Structured Decision Making to support strategic planning such as the Louisiana Governor’s Climate Task Force and the Capital Area Groundwater Conservation Commission in the Greater Baton Rouge area. Alyssa also serves as the Chief Scientist of the RESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana, managed by The Water Institute, and is an adjunct professor at Louisiana State University in geology. 

Alyssa began her career as a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Florida in 2000 after completing her B.S. at Tulane University and her M.S. at the University of New Orleans. She received her Ph.D. from Florida International University in 2008 while working with the USGS. During her years in Florida, she focused on numerical modeling and water availability in both the Floridan and Biscayne aquifers, as well as model independent parameter estimation and uncertainty analysis. This work led her to teach all over the world, including India, Portugal, and Mexico.  

In 2011, she moved back to the northern Gulf to work on coastal restoration after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. She was staffed to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and was a senior representative to the U.S. Department of the Interior to support both the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) and restoration monitoring for the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process. 

Alyssa later served as the Science Director for the RESTORE Council, an independent federal agency created by the RESTORE Act in 2012. She focused on Gulf restoration and science for the council, comprised of the governors of the five Gulf states and cabinet-level officials from six federal agencies. At the Council, she led the consensus-based development of the Initial Funded Priorities List—a $156 million suite of projects containing on-the-ground restoration activities. Alyssa also served as the senior scientist in drafting the Council’s 2016 Comprehensive Plan. 

An avid yoga practitioner, Alyssa has volunteered for over 10 years teaching yoga to active military in the Mississippi Gulf Coast with the Warriors at Ease program, for which she was recognized with the Commemorative Service Award in 2020.