Hunt Valley, Maryland (30 December 2024)—EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC (EA), a leading provider of interdisciplinary environmental services, has joined the Network for Engineering with Nature® (N-EWN) as a Partner. This relationship is part of the company’s ongoing effort to drive innovation, foster knowledge-sharing, and expand the application of nature-based solutions (NBS) to support restoration and resilience through design and construction of natural infrastructure that offers social, economic, and environmental benefits.
“As the technical lead or Partner for numerous NBS projects, EA has gained a wealth of practical knowledge and established relationships with influential stakeholders within the environmental community,” said Sam Whitin, EA Vice President and Director, Coastal Resilience. “As an N-EWN Partner, we see opportunities to both benefit and contribute by leveraging partnerships, research, and connections with other members to enhance the effectiveness of solutions for our clients and expand participation in leading-edge and larger-scale research.”
EA’s Coastal Resilience team has worked with a variety of non-profit, local, state, and federal partners to assess the impacts of climate change on coastal systems and develop NBS to improve coastal adaptation and infrastructure resiliency. These studies and designs include assessing available data, modeling vulnerability, supporting the sustainable management of natural resources, incorporating traditional ecological knowledge, and researching and testing solutions for complex environmental challenges. EA’s philosophy is that sustainable solutions must work with the natural environment rather than against it. Practically speaking, this philosophy emphasizes incorporating ecological and engineering principles, innovative approaches, community input, adaptive management, and interdisciplinary considerations throughout the project lifecycle, from initial assessment through project execution. This approach has been refined and shown to deliver consistent success through partnerships with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, National Park Service, and a host of non-profit and state and local entities from Alaska to the Pacific Islands to the west and east coasts of the United States. Over the past few decades, EA has grown to become a recognized leader in coastal resilience and NBS.
“We are thrilled to welcome EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC as a partner in the Network for Engineering With Nature®,” said Amanda Tritinger, PhD, Deputy National Lead, Engineering With Nature® Program, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “EA’s demonstrated experience and commitment to working with the natural environment align seamlessly with the N-EWN mission. By joining the network, EA is poised to further enhance collaborative efforts that advance innovation, share knowledge, and deliver solutions that benefit both communities and ecosystems.”
N-EWN (link opens in a new tab) was formed in 2019 to bring together researchers, practitioners, and academics who are working to address major infrastructure challenges with innovative solutions that deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits. The organization’s goal is an intentional alignment of engineering and natural processes to efficiently and sustainably create resilience outcomes that balance the needs of people and ecosystems.
NBS and natural infrastructure refer to features that mimic the characteristics of and occupy the same niche as natural features but are created by human design, engineering, and construction to provide services including coastal risk reduction or climate change adaptation while also providing co-benefits. Landscape features such as living shorelines, beach and dune nourishment, thin layer placement of sediment, marsh restoration, and oyster reef restoration can provide a variety of benefits including flood risk management, wave force attenuation, and resilient habitat.
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