Title: CESI Coordinator
Phone: 305-224-4241
Fax: 305-224-4147

Savannah Howington arrived in south Florida in 2001 after living in Venezuela for seven years as a housewife, mother, and doctoral student. She started out as a University of Miami post doctoral student working in collaboration with the SFNRC. In 2002, she acquired her first professional job as the Research Coordinator for the Center.

As Research Coordinator she participates in interagency science planning and the reporting of technical science information regarding Everglades restoration activities. In her role as a Project Management Specialist, she assists the Everglades National Park Superintendent manage the Critical Ecosystems Studies Initiative program (CESI). CESI is a multi-million dollar program the Department of Interior awarded to Everglades National Park through Congressional authorization in 1997. The program has since become DOI’s primary investment in building the restoration information knowledge base specific to the Greater Everglades ecosystem and natural resource management of federally owned lands in south Florida.

Savannah holds a B.A. in American Studies and minor in Natural Resource Conservation from Florida State University. She earned a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Research from the University of Florida. Her graduate work for her doctorate centered on mapping and spatial analysis of the distribution of resources and development in an internationally shared watershed using “emergy”, which sums on the same basis all the energy inputs in a paired ecological and economic system. The watershed under study was that of thee Catatumbo River on the border of Venezuela and Colombia where the use of natural resources and development follow an intense upstream pattern. The purpose was to compare the relative ecological value of resources to the economy of each country in order to consider alternative policies of watershed management. Her research was conducted with the financial support and guidance from the Organization of American States and the Institute of Venezuelan Petroleum Technology.