Environmental Leadership Program

Gerald Bright Jr. is an aquatic biologist working for the Philadelphia Water Department's Office of Watersheds, within the Ecological Restoration Unit. His work includes biomonitoring, review of stream restoration project plans, hydrodynamic and habitat modeling, as well as education and outreach. Currently, he is anticipating the start of a new project in which he will be the Watershed Implementation Coordinator for the Cobbs Creek Watershed. He will be tasked with overseeing and coordinating private, non-profit and inter-agency efforts to implement PWD's CSO Long-term Control Plan. Under this initiative, aptly subtitled "Green City, Clean Waters" the Philadelphia Water Department will use a combination of green and grey infrastructure as well as stream restoration and wetland creation-to mitigate the adverse impacts of stormwater run-off and combined sewer overflows.

He received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Howard University in 2006. A recent graduate of Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (2008), his primary interests are the effects of urbanization on stream ecology and hydraulics, stormwater mitigation, urban renewal and environmental justice. Gerald is a Philadelphia native, who hopes to one day consolidate his multidisciplinary education and experiences in a way that will allow him to help bring the City's inner-city neighborhoods and communities to the forefront of both the environmental and sustainability movements.

 His past research experience includes: studies related to juvenile blue crab habitat utilization at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; inter-specific competition studies on the invasive "rusty’ crayfish in streams within Baltimore's Long Term Ecological Research system; as well as hydrodynamic and habitat modeling in hydraulically impacted streams as compared to restored streams.