2024 NALMS Election Results

President-elect – Julie Chambers

Julie Chambers, leads the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s Beneficial Use Monitoring Program (BUMP) Lake Monitoring section. She has 25 years of experience in statewide water quality management, from program design through data collection, management, reporting, and dissemination of information. Over the last 22 years her program has thrived and is responsible for conducting water quality studies, assessments, and bathymetric surveys on reservoirs across Oklahoma, as well as managing lake and wetland projects funded through federal grants and other contracts. Julie serves on the water quality steering committee for the EPA’s National Lake Assessment as well as on several state technical workgroups focused on the assessment of lakes and field protocol development. Julie has been an active member of The North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) for 20 years serving on various committees and representing as past president since 2016.

Region 2 Director – Emily Mayer

Emily Mayer is a Research Scientist at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, specializing in phytoplankton identification, algal toxin analysis, and data management. With over a decade in lake management, she has conducted macrophyte mapping, water quality analysis, and project management. Emily holds a B.S. in Biology from Centenary University and an M.S. in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Florida. A long-time NALMS member, she has helped run aquatic plant workshops and presented at NALMS conferences. She serves as Editor for NEAPMS (Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society) and as an aquatic technical advisor for several workgroups.

Region 6 Director – Dendy Lofton

Dendy Lofton is a senior limnologist with Stantec based currently in Houston, TX. Dendy has over 17 years of experience in water resource monitoring, assessment and management with specialized expertise in biogeochemical nutrient cycling and limnology. She holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina where she researched carbon and nutrient cycling in shallow Arctic Alaskan Lakes. Currently, Dendy’s work focuses on nutrient reduction in impaired lakes and ponds, diagnostic assessment of water quality in drinking water reservoirs and water quality management in urban stormwater ponds across the United States. Dendy is a Certified Lake Manager and serves as Stantec’s National Water Quality Technical Lead.

Region 10 Director – Sarah Burnet

Sarah Burnet is a Limnologist at the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Idaho, where she also earned her MS in 2016.  She received a BS from Western Washington University. Her current work and studies are centered on the Columbia, Willamette, and Rogue River Basins, with a particular interest in the relationships between sediment particle size distribution, the internal phosphorus release, and the factors driving cyanobacteria blooms and toxin production. A dedicated member of NALMS since 2014, Sarah served as Student Director from 2016 to 2019, was Co-Chair of the Ethics Committee from 2019 to 2023, and contributed to implementing the NALMS Code of Conduct.

Student Director – Mikala L’Hote

Mikala L’Hote is a current master’s student at Paul Smith’s College studying Natural Resource Conservation. In conjunction, she serves as a Graduate Research Assistant with the Adirondack Watershed Institute, where she has had the opportunity to work on a variety of lake assessment and management projects touching upon complex water related questions and concerns throughout the Adirondack Park. Her graduate research specifically addresses the impacts of road salt use on lakes within the Lake Champlain Basin, with the aim to provide the public and key stakeholders with information needed to understand and address the impacts of road salt application in the basin. Over the last year, Mikala has served as Student Director of NALMS, dedicating herself to representing and progressing the role of student membership within the society.