Dr. Andre Rovai earned a Bachelor of Science in marine biology (2001) and holds a master’s degree (2012) and a PhD in ecology (2016). He further pursued two postdoctoral appointments (2017–2019, 2019–2021) and held an assistant research scientist position (2021–2023) at Louisiana State University’s (LSU) Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences (DOCS) before joining the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center as a research ecologist (2023–2025).
Andre is now a Research Biologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center where he also serves as Director for the Coastal Carbon Network. To date, Dr. Rovai has contributed 76 publications (42 peer-reviewed articles, 16 book chapters, 3 Technical Reports, 15 datasets) focused on the ecology and restoration of tidal wetlands and mangrove ecosystems, earning him over 2,100 citations and an h-index of 20. In addition to his extensive work in mangroves and coastal marshes across the southeastern United States, Dr. Rovai has conducted research in Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, and Vietnam, providing training and collaborating with local governments and non-governmental organizations to develop guidelines for monitoring and managing coastal ecosystem resources. Dr. Rovai has secured more than $2.1M in extramural research funding from varied sources (DoD-SERDP, Engineering With Nature, U.S. Forest Service). He also serves as an adjunct professor at LSU-DOCS, where he mentors undergraduate and graduate students. Furthermore, Dr. Rovai is an active member of international working groups on tidal wetland science, where he contributes to developing collaborative research agendas on soil processes, habitat resilience, and ecosystem management.
Engineering With Nature® is the intentional alignment of natural and engineering processes to efficiently and effectively deliver economic, ecological, and social benefits through collaboration.