The Duck Fellows

By Nathan Ratchford

Courtesy of the University of Georgia

Some of the recent “duck fellows” and UGA faculty. (Back row, from left) Noah Cleveland, Advisor Dr. Rhett Jackson, IRIS Program Manager Will Mattison, Nick Austin, Holly Mullins. (Front row) Aurora Fowler, Hattie Greydanus, Elizabeth Collins.

As floods, droughts, and storms intensify and aging infrastructure struggles to keep up, wetlands are increasingly in the spotlight—not just as habitat, but as vital systems that buffer storms, absorb floodwaters, and improve water quality across entire landscapes. The Natural Infrastructure Graduate Fellowship, launched in 2022 by Ducks Unlimited and the University of Georgia’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS), is a bold step toward a future in which wetlands are integrated as solutions to everyday problems. The program is training a new generation of engineers, scientists, and planners who will have the skills needed to conceive and implement ecological solutions to complex challenges. 

At its core, the fellowship is about integration—bringing together disciplines, sectors, and generations. The program gives graduate students a rare chance to bridge theory and practice by embedding them with DU staff in field offices across the country, where they gain real-world conservation experience. Since its launch, more than a dozen students have participated, each earning the informal title of “duck fellow.” 

With every model calibrated and every acre surveyed, these students are helping to make the case for wetlands to be recognized as vital natural infrastructure worth restoring and protecting for both wildlife and people.

Working with Nature 

Natural infrastructure refers to the strategic use of natural systems—or engineered systems that mimic natural processes—to deliver services like flood mitigation, erosion control, and water quality improvement. Wetlands that filter pollutants in runoff, buffer coastlines from storms, and absorb floodwater are all examples. These solutions can be used in conjunction with traditional infrastructure, providing flexibility, resilience, and additional benefits. 

Dave Bunning, chairman of the Sunshine Charitable Foundation, challenged DU to think about ways that research and education could unlock new avenues of funding for habitat conservation. Through the foundation’s initial investment, the fellowship took shape. Collaborations with other organizations were important in getting the program off the ground. Caterpillar, through its Natural Infrastructure Initiative, helped connect DU with the university and bring the vision to life.

Much of that vision was shaped by Dr. Brian Bledsoe, director of IRIS, whose accomplished public and private sector background gave the fellowship its interdisciplinary structure. Working closely with Dr. Ellen Herbert, DU’s ecosystem services scientist, Bledsoe helped turn the concept into a vibrant program. 

With over 90 engineers on staff, DU has long delivered natural infrastructure at a landscape level. But embedding students directly in DU field offices—from Syracuse to Vancouver—offered something new: a way to grow a workforce that is knowledgeable about ecological functions and engineering design to deepen the scientific foundation of DU’s on-the-ground work. 

“They’re not just learning in classrooms,” says Will Mattison, program manager and senior resilience engineer at IRIS. “They’re collecting survey data on marsh projects, calibrating flow models, and helping to evaluate levee resilience strategies.” A longtime DU member and Georgia duck hunter, Mattison now oversees the fellowship.

While most fellows come from civil and environmental engineering backgrounds, the program is intentionally multidisciplinary. Students in ecology, wildlife sciences, landscape architecture, ornithology, and policy all contribute—adding perspectives that deepen both the questions and the answers that the fellows explore. 

Why It Matters

Herbert explains the fellowship’s broader value: “Most students don’t come in knowing that DU has engineers or that we’re designing wetlands at scale. This shows them what we do and why it matters.” 

Beyond workforce development, fellows expand DU’s professional capacity by writing technical memos, compiling data, and developing modeling tools and field monitoring protocols. Their research helps DU refine strategies and adaptively manage projects. 

“These students are making real contributions,” says Tamara Jameson, director of engineering services in DU’s Great Lakes/Atlantic Region. “They’re not just assisting; they’re bringing new tools and fresh ways of thinking into our projects.” 

But the benefits extend beyond DU. One of the most important contributions the program makes is increasing the evidence base for nature-based solutions. “They’re part of a growing network of professionals who understand what wetlands can do,” Herbert says. “Every time they bring that knowledge to a new agency or consulting firm, it opens a door for better outcomes on the landscape.” 

 A Model for the Future 

Now entering its fourth year, the fellowship is attracting more attention. DU is broadening the disciplines represented, and the program is increasingly seen as a model for how academic and conservation institutions can collaborate on natural infrastructure.  

Mattison sees it as a generational play: “What excites me most is how these students are already shaping real on-the-ground projects,” he says. “They’re showing up in meetings, asking the right questions, and making contributions that matter.” 

For Ducks Unlimited, it always comes back to wetlands and the waterfowl that depend on them. “Habitat is where we start,” Herbert says. “But when that same habitat can also reduce flooding, filter runoff, and support local communities, that opens so many more doors to expand our delivery. That’s the future. And these students are helping us build it.” 

To learn more or recommend a student for the fellowship, visit iris.uga.edu/ni-fellowship. 

Fellow Spotlight: Hattie Greydanus 

For Hattie Greydanus, the path to working in natural infrastructure started with an undergraduate hydrology course and a class project on stream restoration. “It was the first time I saw engineering and ecology working together,” she says. “It just made sense.” 

After earning a degree in civil and environmental engineering from Calvin University, she worked in consulting roles across Michigan and California. Eventually, her interest in landscape-scale restoration brought her to the University of Georgia—and to the fellowship. 

In her research, Greydanus focused on beaver dam analogs (BDAs), structures designed to mimic beaver activity in degraded stream systems. These structures can be a huge benefit to wetland restoration efforts when used appropriately. She worked in DU offices in Colorado and Washington, surveying wetlands, deploying monitoring gear, and analyzing the hydraulic function of BDAs. 

“We wanted to know when modeling makes sense and how to do it effectively,” she explains. For DU, her work helps reduce risk in BDA planning and adds technical clarity to a rapidly growing field. 

“Science and practice have to talk. You can’t design in a vacuum. This program gave me the space to explore that,” Greydanus says.

Fellow Spotlight: Stevens Charles 

When Stevens Charles entered the program, he was all concrete and calculation. A native of South Florida, he studied engineering with a traditional focus—stormwater pipes, reinforced barriers, and structure-first solutions. 

But that all changed when he entered the IRIS program. One of the first fellowship graduates, Charles helped define what it means to be a duck fellow, applying technical skill and ecological insight to one of the country’s most complex river systems. Assigned to a project along the Mississippi River, Charles studied how levee systems could be adapted for controlled overtopping—intentionally allowing water to breach banks and replenish adjacent wetlands. 

The work required him to balance hydrology with habitat and risk with reward. “What I learned is that natural systems can do a lot of what we ask concrete to do,” he says. “They can slow water, absorb energy, and recover after big events.” 

Now just beginning work at Jacobs Engineering, Charles has participated in resilience planning projects that include salt marsh evaluation, flood modeling, and coastal vulnerability assessments. 

“I’m often the one in meetings talking about wetlands,” Charles says. “That wouldn’t have happened without this program. It gave me the experience, but also the vocabulary, to bring these ideas to the table.”