Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Award winners (left to right: New York Sea Grant award winners Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist Roy Widrig, Coastal Community Development Specialist Mary Austerman, and Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator Megan Cochran. Credit: Paul C. Focazio/New York Sea Grant

Awards Presented for Expertise and Early Career Success

Contacts: 

Katherine Bunting-Howarth, NYSG Associate Director, P: 607-255-2832, E: keb264@cornell.edu 

Mary Austerman, NYSG Coastal Community Development Specialist, E: mp357@cornell.edu, P: 315-234-1160

Roy Widrig, NYSG Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist, E: rlw294@cornell.edu, P: 315-234-1916 

Megan Cochran, NYSG Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator, E: mk2236@cornell.edu, P: 716-270-2490

Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG Great Lakes Publicist, P: 315-465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net 

Oswego, NY, June 15, 2026 - Three New York Sea Grant Great Lakes extension specialists recently received awards from the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, recognizing exceptional leadership, outreach, and accomplishments. New York Sea Grant Coastal Community Development Specialist Mary Austerman and Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist Roy Widrig were presented with the 2026 Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Superior Outreach Programming Team Award. New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator Megan Cochran received the 2026 Great Lakes Sea Grant Early Career Award. 

The honors were presented at the 2026 Great Lakes Sea Grant Network meeting recently held in Oswego, New York. 

Great Lakes Sea Grant Superior Outreach Team Award

Austerman and Widrig received the Great Lakes Superior Outreach Programming Award for the “Navigating Conflict in Coastal Resilience: The Sodus Point Dune Outreach Initiative,” a collaborative effort that helped transform a contentious shoreline management challenge into coordinated, community-informed action. 

Through facilitated stakeholder engagement, regulatory alignment and implementation-focused outreach, the initiative supported corrective dune maintenance to protect 1,800 feet of shoreline and properties along Lake Ontario, and strengthened long-term local governance planning. The successful outcome of the project provides a model for climate resilience decision-making for use in other Great Lakes coastal communities.

New York Sea Grant Director Rebecca Shuford said, “New York Sea Grant is thrilled with the recognition of Mary and Roy and the influential work they do which is a shining example of how extension can transform a technically and socially complex coastal infrastructure challenge into durable governance and interagency and community dialogue that benefits the local community and the environment.”

New York Sea Grant Associate Director and Cornell Cooperative Extension Assistant Director Katherine Bunting-Howarth said, “The collaborative leadership and expertise of Mary Austerman and Roy Widrig exemplify the New York Sea Grant mission to translate complex coastal science and resiliency challenges to empower communities to take well-informed action that benefits their coastal communities and environmental sustainability for New York’s coastal areas.”

New York Sea Grant assistance was requested by a Sodus Point resident advisory group to respond to the widely-varying, and at times divisive, perspectives about the purpose of the sand dune and allowable maintenance. As neutral conveners, Austerman and Widrig created an open forum for residents, business owners, and other stakeholders of the Lake Ontario shoreline community to express their questions and concerns. 

Austerman and Widrig applied New York Sea Grant’s coastal science, social science, and public engagement expertise to document the diverse stakeholder issues, the applicable regulatory requirements and state coastal policy, historical context, and current-day factors related to dune development, ecology, and maintenance. 

Austerman and Widrig were earlier recognized by New York State Assemblyman Brian Manktelow with an Assembly Proclamation for leadership and technical expertise in moving the dune project to a sustainable solution. 

Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Early Career Award

Megan Cochran, hired in June 2021 as New York Sea Grant’s first Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator, received the 2026 Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Early Career Award for her work across multiple programming and communication platforms. 

Cochran’s focus includes social media outreach, communicating information on New York Sea Grant programming, workshops, events, and resources. In 2023, Cochran was assigned as training leader for new Sea Grant staff in New York. She now assists new staff throughout the Sea Grant Great Lakes region states.

New York Sea Grant Associate Director and Cornell Cooperative Extension Assistant Director Katherine Bunting-Howarth said, “Megan Cochran is well deserving of this early career recognition for her effective application of creativity and technology expertise to assist diverse audiences to act to benefit the Great Lakes.” 

As coordinator of the New York Great Lake Basin Small Grants program in collaboration with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Cochran has enhanced outreach to engage more communities in applying for funding available to advance local projects that fit the goals of New York’s Great Lakes Action Agenda. 

Cochran works with other New York Sea Grant specialists to develop resources to help Great Lakes communities, residents and leaders. These resources include Shoreline Homeowner Folders to help waterfront property owners better understand how Great Lakes processes, storms, seiches, and fluctuating lake levels impact property and systems, including aging shoreline septic systems; and the AdaptTable scenario planning game that helps local leaders brainstorm best management strategies to address potential flooding and storm impact for their specific areas.

Cochran has partnered with the DEC to implement the Day in the Life of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River and Student Summit programs, developing middle grade-level curricula and activities and connecting teachers, students, and environmental scientists throughout the region to foster better understanding of local watersheds.

New York Sea Grant Director Rebecca Shuford said, “Megan’s receipt of the 2026 Great Lakes Sea Grant Early Career Award is well-earned and well-deserved. The extension portfolio and relationships that she has established over the past five years have resulted in tremendous impact for the coastal communities she supports and is indicative of great programming yet to come.”


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG) is a university-based, statewide Federal-State collaboration between the State University of New York (SUNY), Cornell University, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is one of 34 university-based programs that connects research, extension, and education with the needs of coastal communities, environments, and economies through NOAA. 

Since 1971, NYSG has supported science-based solutions for a wide range of water-related challenges and opportunities across the state. Through NYSG’s efforts, university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science and technical information to educational institutions, businesses, agencies, and industries; federal, state and local governments; the media; and the interested public. The program is administratively based at Stony Brook University (SBU) and Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). 

NYSG historically leverages on average a 5.5-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. The State benefits from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.

New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes quarterly.