KRISTEN HICKS Kristen Hicks is the new coastal training program coordinator at the Mission- Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). She is based at the NERR headquarters at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.

Hicks, who started Feb. 27, has experience in regional ocean planning, shoreline management and beach access and sustainable coastal development.

She has a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a master’s degree in marine policy from the University of Delaware.

Hicks came to the NERR from the University of Delaware.

“ Hicks will serve as a bridge between the science, coastal management and policy communities within the Mission-Aransas NERR and in the surrounding area,” said Kiersten Madden, stewardship coordinator at the NERR.

“She will work to increase and improve collaborative information-sharing opportunities among the many individuals, disciplines and institutions that affect coastal and estuarine ecosystems,” Madden said.

The Mission- Aransas NERR includes 185,000 acres of land and water in Aransas, Refugio, Calhoun, Nueces and San Patricio counties.