Dr. Marisa Hughes is the assistant program manager for Advanced Science and Technology Development in APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Mission Area. She focuses on incubating new research in understanding, mitigating, and adapting to the rapidly changing environment. This includes Earth sensing and modeling, climate readiness, environmental response and restoration, resource security, and source reduction. Dr. Hughes is the founder of the APL Climate Network and coleads a Laboratory-wide initiative addressing the national and global challenges resulting from climate change. She has also explored abstraction and frameworks for systems modeling and interactions, particularly as it applies to defense and climate change challenges. Additional areas of expertise include climate change impacts, Earth systems interaction, mathematics, data science, and modeling.